The Most Unexpected Places
by L0VEisREALx3
Summary: Nick's the lowly freshman in advanced math classes and Miley's the hot senior girl who's failing Pre-Calc. What will Nick find when he's thrown into tutoring her? He might just be surprised.
1. Chapter 1

**Look what's back... I'll be uploading previous chapters plus the new chapters as the day goes on. You guys probably need to refresh your memories anyway, but there is a new chapter. I'm probably crazy for doing this more than one story thing again, but oh well. Here it goes.**

Nick stood nervously in front of the big white house and rang the doorbell. Here he was, a lowly freshman, ringing the doorbell of the most popular senior girl's house.

It was definitely not his idea. Nor was it a dare. Actually, it was part of the volunteer project he needed to complete before he could graduate. Fifty hours were the requirement and Nick, being somewhat of an over achiever, was getting started early.

Nick was a bright student. Actually, he was what most kids would call a nerd. From his tucked in button down shirts to his glasses to his impeccable grades, he was a nerd. He had thought tutoring would be a good job for him especially in his area of expertise: Math. He had taught himself Algebra II over the summer and had tested into Pre-Calculus, a class normally associated with Juniors and Seniors. He had thought he would wind up with a middle school student or a fellow freshman so imagine his surprise when he was assigned to tutor THE Miley Stewart in some sort of peer tutoring program.

She was known for being the most popular girl in school. She had a loyal band of followers including her entourage of friends and then handfuls of wannabes. Not to mention the countless others who loved to hate her. She was easily, easily the hottest girl in school. Nick had noticed her the second he walked into the cafeteria on the first day of high school. She seemed to have this pull to her that just made you notice her right away. She had long shiny brown hair with caramel highlights and eyes so blue they put the skies to shame. Her body was the one from every guys fantasy. Slender with curves in all the right places and legs that went on for days after her pert little ass. She was definitely every guy's dream.

And apparently she was also an idiot. She had failed her own first quarter of Pre-Calc and was in desperate need of a tutor. If she didn't pass, she couldn't graduate. And that was how Nick came to be standing at her front door now.

It swung open and Nick was greeted by a woman in her early forties with blonde hair and big eyes. She also had a smile on her face.

"Nicholas?" she asked opening the door wider.

"Nick," he corrected, shifting his books to one arm so that he could shake her hand.

"I'm Miley's mom," she said gripping his hand, "Come in."

Nick stepped into the large foyer that had dark wood floors and a fancy looking chandelier. He noticed a white piano in the corner and the stairs that ran up the back wall. The walls were a beige color and the whole room looked like it had come out of a home magazine.

"We really appreciate this, Nick," she said genuinely as Nick looked around, "Miley should be upstairs in her room waiting for you. Second door on the right when you go upstairs."

Nick swallowed nervously. Her room? He had kind of expected to tutor her at the kitchen table or something. But he dutifully climbed the stairs and knocked on the door that he was told was hers.

"Come in," the feminine voice called and Nick opened the door cautiously. Miley's head swung to the door. She was sitting at her desk with a tattered book in hand and her math things spread out in front of her.

Nick looked around the rest of the room. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he was still kind of surprised. Her room was very calming with light purple walls and white furniture. It was an incredibly spacious room and held a huge canopy bed, a desk with room for a laptop and study space, a wardrobe, and most surprisingly, two large book shelves stocked full of books.

"Hi, I'm Miley," she said standing up and holding out her hand. She was wearing the same outfit she had been wearing at school that day. Short white shorts and an off the shoulder dark grey top. Her eyes still had just the right touch of dark eyeliner to make them look just the right amount of sultry. The only difference was her feet were bare and her hair was in a long messy side braid.

"I know," Nick said and then regretted it as she giggled. He took her hand and she shook it firmly.

"I don't know you though," she said staring at him.

"Nick," Nick said trying to sound confident, "Nick Lucas."

"Well, Nick Lucas," Miley said gesturing to the desk that had two chairs set up, "Tutor me."

Nick blushed. He was a teenage boy after all and pretty much anything that came out of a mouth like that sounded seductive.

"So this is part of your volunteer project?" Miley asked conversationally.

"Yeah... What was yours?" he asked her, relaxing a little bit. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. She wasn't a complete snob like Nick had been expecting. Maybe it was the rumors he had heard about her being a slut or the "popular bitch" cliche, but he had expected her to be a lot different.

"None of your business," she said suddenly with an attitude. Or maybe she was exactly how he expected her to be. She looked uncomfortable which piqued Nick's curiosity. But instead of pushing it Nick took a seat next to her. She put her book down, binding up, to save her  
place. Nick craned his neck a little to read the title.

"The Great Gatsby?" he read out loud, "You reading that for school?"

Miley shook her head, "oh no, I just like it."

"Oh?" Nick said surprised. He hadn't read it yet, but he was pretty sure it wasn't something the average person decides to pick up and read.

"Yep," Miley said, popping her p. Maybe it was Nick's imagination, but she seemed eager to change the subject, "So are you gonna teach me or what? 'Cause I would kind of like to pass my senior year and get the f out of high school."

Nick chuckled a little and cracked open his book, "So what chapter are you on?"

"How old are you?" Miley blurted out and he cowered at her sudden loud voice, "I'm sorry. I always get off subject. It's just that, no offense, but you look kind of young, but obviously you're tutoring me so..."

"I'm 15," Nick said embarrassed. He knew he would come off as such a nerd. He didn't want to see her face, but when he looked out the corner of his eye she seemed to be okay with it. Or at least she wasn't laughing at him.

"You probably think I'm an idiot," she said finally, studying his face.

"No-" Nick tried to protest even though that was exactly what he was thinking moments before.

"It's written all over your face," Miley interrupted, "but I'm not stupid. Numbers and I just aren't good friends."

Nick nodded and she seemed content with that response.

"And to answer your question, we're on chapter 5," she added, taking out her assignment book to show him her homework.

Nick read it over and then opened his book to the proper page.

"Alright, parabolas..." Nick said, "What do you know about them?"

Miley scrunched her nose, "Absolutely nothing."

"How in the world did you pass algebra II if you don't know anything about parabolas?" Nick asked. He didn't mean to sound obnoxious, it just slipped out and he was honestly curious.

"Nathan Richards."

"Huh?"

"Nathan Richards is how I passed Algebra II," she explained slowly, "he sat next to me and did my homework."

"Well, I won't being doing your homework for you," Nick said and he was amazed by his own confidence. That would show her that just because she was a hot popular senior didn't mean she could walk all over him.

"I don't remember asking you to," Miley said cooly, draining Nick of all the confidence he previously gained and making him feel a little silly, "Now can you just teach me this?"

"Fine," Nick said and began to read from the book, "A parabola is defined as the locus of a point which moves so that it is always the same distance from a fixed point (called the focus) and a given line (called the directrix)"

Miley stared at him blankly.

This was going to be an interesting project.

"I'm home!" Nick called as he walked through the blue door into his house.

"In the kitchen!" came his mom's voice from the back of the house.

"Hi, honey," Mrs. Lucas said as Nick came into the room and set his stuff down on the counter, "how'd the tutoring go?"

Nick noticed his older brother's head perk up at the mention of the tutoring session. Joe had teased him mercilessly about tutoring Miley Stewart. Joe was a junior and was a running back for the school's football team. He traveled in the same social circle as Miley although they weren't really friends.

"It was good," Nick said vaguely, taking a cookie from the plate in front of Joe then going to give his mom a hug. He was a momma's boy while Joe took more after their father who was a sports addict.

"I'm glad. How did the chem quiz go today?" Nick's mom was probably the reason Nick was so into school. She valued an education above all and had always taught Nick to get his work done and really understand the material.

"It was good. I think I might have gotten one wrong though... Selena said she got a different answer than me and she's a chem whiz so..."

"As long as you did your best..." his mom said turning from the dishes she was washing to give him a smile which Nick returned weakly.

"I'm going to go do some homework," Nick said grabbing his books.

"Alright, dinner will be in an hour or so"

Nick nodded in response and then headed up to his room. His room wasn't small, but it was nowhere near as big as Miley's. He had a full sized bed, a desk and a dresser. The walls were dark blue and his furniture was dark cherry wood. He barely had time to put his books down before Joe burst in the room.

"So how was sexy Stewart?" Joe said with a smirk, licking his lips. Like most boys, he would do anything to get a chance with her. Nick rolled his eyes.

"I said she was good."

"No," Joe argued, "you said the tutoring was good. That's completely different."

Nick didn't even know what to say to that so he didn't say anything as he sat down at his desk and opened his book to do his own math homework.

"I can't believe you get to spend two hours a day with sexy Stewart and you're not even going to do anything about it," Joe shook his head in disappointment at his little brother.

"What do you expect me to do?" Nick asked annoyed with his stupid older brother's antics. He was already feeling weird about his session with Miley and he didn't need his brother breathing down his neck.

"I don't know, but something. Although I doubt she'd hook up with a freshman."

Secretly, Nick agreed. Even if it was only in his deepest fantasies that he had thought about it, he knew he definitely didn't have a chance with Miley. Besides, he was kind of sure she was dating the quarterback, Jake Ryan.

"You never know though. I've heard some pretty freaky things about her. I've heard she's up for anything."

Nick stayed silent. Maybe if he kept ignoring Joe he would just go away. Even if he was basically a social outcast he had still heard some rumors about her. But after meeting her, he was starting to second guess them.

"I guess you have Selena though, right?" Joe said, trying to get Nick to spill something. When they were younger they were inseparable, but then Joe had gotten really involved in football while Nick concentrated on academics. Nick had become a lot quieter and had drifted apart from most of his old friends. Except Selena. She consistantly had stuck by his side and it was clear to everyone that she liked him.

Nick just shook his head and looked down at his book to start his work signaling that Nick was done with this conversation.

Joe sighed and then turned to exit the room, leaving Nick all alone with his books.

***  
The next day at school, Nick sat down in his stool at his lab table in the chemistry room. He was early as usual and he waited patiently for the rest of the class, including his lab partner for the semester, Selena.

Selena. Nick had known her for a while now, since middle school and they had been in most of the same classes. She was always friendly to him and he considered her a friend. On the first day of school Selena had slid next to Nick at his lab table and asked if they could be lab partners. Nick had shrugged and agreed, it's not like he had someone else to be his partner.

Part of him knew, like Joe had implied, that Selena liked him as more than a friend. He wasn't really interested in her, but he was too polite and too shy to say anything to her. So instead, he just let her talk and ramble to him while he sat there quietly and sometimes nodded or offered his own little story. Sometimes they even hung out outside of school. Although it may not seem like it to an outsider, she was probably the best friend that he had.

Selena came bouncing in a few minutes before the bell, her long dark hair straightened, wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt with converse. Nick nodded at her and she smiled.

"So how was tutoring? Not too painful, I hope," Selena said with a laugh as she set down her books and her bag.

Nick instantly felt uncomfortable. Yeah, Miley was kind of slow when it came to math, but he honestly believed she could do well. Nick was surprised by how quickly she learned after his explanation. Her main problem was that she never really understood the basics. She was articulate and she didn't say "like" or "totally" every other word. He couldn't help but think that there was something... different about her.

"It wasn't that bad actually," Nick said shrugging. He didn't want to go into too much detail about it because he knew Selena had trouble keeping her mouth shut and he sensed Miley was uncomfortable sharing the smarter side of her even if Nick didn't understand why.

"Oh please," Selena said rolling her eyes, "Don't tell me you've fallen under 'Sexy Stewart's' evil spell too. You realize you're a freshman, right? You don't stand a chance."

Nick was getting a little tired of people reminding him of that. He also felt kind of defensive of Miley which was irrational since he barely knew her, but something about Selena bashing her bothered him.

Lucky for Nick though the teacher began class before he could say anything to make himself sound stupid by defending her.

"Are we still on for lunch?" Selena whispered and Nick nodded. It wasn't like he had anyone else to sit with anyway and apparently Selena had no other friends in their lunch period. They didn't talk for the rest of class and when the bell rang Nick waited patiently for her to get her stuff so they could walk to lunch together.

"Seriously though," Selena prattled on as they walked into the lunchroom, "Miley thinks just because she's hot she can do and get whatever she wants so don't let yourself get too attached. People like that only use people."

Nick looked across the room and saw her draped over Jake's lap surrounded by a group full of admirers. She threw her head back and laughed, smacking his chest and the rest of the group roared in laughter too. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Yeah, she's nothing special," Nick agreed, turning away from her and her friends.

If only he knew how wrong he was.


	2. Chapter 2

That afternoon as Nick stood at Miley's door waiting for someone to open it he couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment he got when he saw Miley interacting with the people at school.

It might sound stupid, but yesterday Nick had seen something in her he wasn't expecting and then to see her acting like she was just some other dumb popular was a bit of a let down.

The door swung open, but instead of being greeted by Mrs. Stewart, Miley opened the door. But it definitely wasn't the same Miley he had seen at school earlier.

She was wearing oversized grey sweatpants that hung low on her hips and a tiny black tshirt so that at least three inches of bare skin showed. More surprising though, was her hair up in a tight pony tail and her makeup free face.

"What are you looking at?" Miley snapped, putting her hands on her hips and staring at Nick. They were about the same height, but Nick still felt like she was looking down at him.

"N-nothing," he stuttered as she moved out of the way to let him in. She slammed the door closed and then began to trudge up the stairs. Nick followed after her, trying to ignore the fact that the top of her thong hung out of her sweatpants. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to make Nick blush and look away.

Miley walked into her room and sat down in front of her desk. Nick wondered why she was in such a bad mood, but he didn't know how to ask her without sounding like an idiot.

"So what's the homework for tonight?" Nick asked her. Without saying a word, she showed him the assignment. He opened it up to the page. Not surprisingly, they were still working on parabolas.

"Okay, so, when the parabola is in the right form, you can sketch it just by looking at the equation."

Miley nodded silently.

"You remember vertex form, right?" he asked her, trying to get her to talk.

"y= a(x-h)2+k" Miley recited and Nick smiled at her. She smiled weakly back.

Nick continued to explain to her what all parts of the equation meant and showed her how to sketch it. She didn't respond or ask any questions and Nick felt uncomfortable, like he was talking to himself.

"How about you get started on the homework and if you have questions you can ask me?" Nick suggested just to break the awkwardness.

"Kay," Miley said looking down at her notebook and copying down the problem. Nick opened his book and began his own homework. At least something good was coming out of this session, he got to work on his own work. Which was good because he had an English paper due the next day.

But he couldn't concentrate. He couldn't help but think that something was off about Miley. And it wasn't just how dressed down she was. He wasn't stupid enough to assume that she was dressed up all the time and he figured she didn't think it was worth it to look good in front of him. Although they weren't really friends, she was certainly friendlier yesterday and more talkative.

He watched as she leaned over her notebook and deliberately made the marks of the problem. Even without makeup her skin was nearly flawless, with just a hint of pinkness in her cheeks. With her hair pulled back away from her face, Nick was suddenly struck by how delicate her features were. Her eyelashes were naturally long and without all the junk around her eyes they were an even more stunning shade of blue. Nick watched as she bit her lip and scrunched her nose, trying to figure out the problem.

Her face turned suddenly and she was staring at him staring at her. Instead of looking away, Nick froze like a deer in headlights.

"What are you-"

"You're beautiful," Nick blurted out suddenly and then mentally slapped himself. Why was he such a loser? He had no idea where that had come from, but once it left his mouth he realized it was true.

She looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face and even though he wanted to look away he felt like he should keep eye contact with her for some reason.

"Really? You think I'm beautiful?" she asked softly and Nick let out a small sigh of relief. For a moment he thought she was going to shut him down.

Nick studied her face one more time, "Yeah, I do," he said honestly.

A wide smile broke over her and face and was she... blushing?

"No one's ever called me beautiful..." Miley explained, looking down at her paper and tugging at the ends of her hair.

Nick couldn't believe his ears. No one had ever called Miley beautiful? Didn't her boyfriend?

"I mean, I've been called other things," she said, her blush more prominent on her natural face, "but not beautiful."

For some reason it made Nick feel good that he was the first one to say that to her and make the pink flush in her cheeks come out. He felt proud. In his opinion, girls should be cherished and should be told that they're beautiful all the time. If he had a girlfriend, he would let her know that everyday. Although, considering he had never had one, maybe that wasn't the right thing to do.

Miley suddenly leaned in and brought her hands to his face. He tensed at her touch, but fought the urge to move. Or maybe he was just petrified and couldn't move. Her fingertips were cold against the side of his face and she smelled like vanilla lotion.

It took him a moment to realize that she was removing his glasses. The room blurred slightly, he wasn't blind without them, but Miley was so close that she stayed in focus.

She folded them carefully and placed them on the desk before turning to look at him. To say Nick was confused would've been an understatement.

"You're pretty cute without your glasses," she stated as if it were a fact. Then upon seeing Nick's offended face she elaborated, "I mean, your glasses just block your face and chop it into sections to the human eye, but when they're off you can take in the whole picture. But I like your glasses too... Very nerd-chic," she joked.

Nick was struck by her intense explanation of his face. It wasn't just a normal point of view, but instead an artistic evaluation and he wondered where she had gained that type of knowledge. There was so much he didn't know about her, but he wanted to find out.

"Nick?" Miley asked waving her hand in front of his face. Nick snapped out of his own thoughts.

"Huh?"

"I said, could you help me with this one?" she pointed to a problem in her book.

"Oh yeah, of course," he said, leaving thoughts about her behind and looking over the problem to help and returning to their normal distant manner.

***

Nick couldn't get her off his mind and he didn't know why. But all through chemistry he was counting down the time until lunch when he could see her.

He squirmed in his seat and tapped his fingers on the desk. He wasn't sure if he could ever see her in the same way after seeing her without wearing makeup. He wondered if there would be something different about her even though his logical thoughts told him nothing would have changed over night.

"Hey," Selena whispered, it was the first time she had talked to him all period, "We're on for lunch right?"

Not for the first time, Nick wondered why she asked every single day. He always agreed, as mentioned, it's not like he would have other plans. But nevertheless he nodded and offered her a small smile which she returned.

Nick walked quickly to the lunchroom, not bothering to wait for Selena. As soon as he got to the cafeteria he scanned the room for Miley. It wasn't hard to find her, she was surrounded by a group of girls who were all laughing. She had on a denim skirt and a tight top on with a little jacket thrown over it. Her makeup was all on again, but Nick didn't mind. She looked beautiful either way. She must have felt him staring because she looked up and locked eyes with him for a second. She smiled at him and gave a little nod and for some reason Nick's heart was racing. Then she looked back at her friends again.

Nick walked over to the lunch line and got his food. Selena was already sitting at the table where she had her own home brought lunch laying out.

"You must have been hungry," Selena giggled, "you were out of chem in a flash."

"I, uh, yeah," Nick stuttered awkwardly. It was probably better that she thought that anyway. He couldn't even imagine the look on her face. She would probably be disgusted and no amount of explanation from Nick would change her mind.

She laughed again and Nick sat down to start eating.

She was going on about some thing or another while Nick just nodded. She was talking about something that happened between one of her friends and her boyfriend and Nick just didn't care.

"So I was thinking..." Selena said putting down her sandwich and waiting for his full attention.

"Yeah?" Nick asked. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath.

"Maybe we could, like, hang out tonight?" she asked him hopefully. A slight blushed crept onto her cheeks and Nick felt trapped. He didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't want to lead her on either.

"I have to tutor Miley this afternoon and then I have to get my own homework done," Nick explained to her. It was mostly true after all.

"Oh," Selena said quietly, looking down, "you can't cancel?"

"Not tonight, she has a big test coming up," Nick lied, "and she really needs to pass it."

"Yeah, I guess we want her to pass right? So we can finally get her out of here," Selena said with a laugh. Nick couldn't help but notice how she seemed to draw confidence from making fun of Miley.

Nick didn't know what to say to that so as usual he stayed silent.

"But another time maybe?"

Nick took one look at her hopeful face and he knew he wouldn't be able to turn her down.

"Yeah, of course," he assured her and she smiled brightly making Nick feel a small pang of guilt.

***

"So if there's a negative in the front, it flips the parabola upside down?" Miley asked hesitantly.

"Exactly," Nick said with a smile. Slowly, but surely she was catching on.

"So this one would look like this," Miley drew a upside down U shape on her graph paper.

"Perfect," Nick felt like they were really making a break though.

"You know," Miley said, "this isn't that hard when you explain it. I don't know why, you just make it all so clear."

This pleased Nick and not just because it was a compliment. For once he felt like something he was doing was making a difference. Before his good grades and smarts didn't seem to be important, but with Miley it felt like it was being put to a good cause. Maybe teaching was his forte.

"I gotta go to the bathroom, be right back," she told him, getting up from her chair and heading into the adjoining bathroom.

Nick decided it would be a good idea to move on so he picked up her notebook and flipped back to try and find her notes from that day to see what they were working on in class.

While he was flipping a loose piece of paper slid out and fell onto the floor. Nick bent over to pick it up and eyed it curiously. There were lots of words, but most of them were scribbled over or crossed out and edited. At the bottom though, were a few lines of untouched words. 

_There's always gonna be another mountain  
I'm always gonna wanna make it move_  
_Always gonna be an uphill battle  
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose_  
_Ain't about how fast I get there  
ain't about what's waiting at the other side_  
_It's the climb_

Nick read the words to himself and smiled. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was good. It was inspirational, but not overdone. He was reading it over again when he was suddenly interrupted.

"What are you doing?" Miley asked loudly. Nick jumped. He didn't even hear her come out of the bathroom.

Nick just stood there and didn't move. Miley leaned over his shoulder and then realized what he had in his hands.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, snatching it back from him.

"It fell out of your notebook," Nick explained nervously. He couldn't really tell if she was mad or not. "Is this like a poem or something?" he asked her.

A wave of emotion Nick couldn't decipher flashed over her face and Nick felt like something was off. He just didn't know what.

"Yeah, it's a poem" she said with a sigh of relief, "Can we get back to work now?"

"Did you write it?" Nick pressed. He was just curious. He kind of figured she liked to read, but he didn't know she wrote too. It excited him that he had found something special out about her. It was clear she wasn't used to sharing her stuff by the look on her face.

She hesitated for a moment before answering, "Yeah, I wrote it."

"It's really good," Nick complimented her earnestly.

She looked uncomfortable and embarrassed, but Nick couldn't understand why. She had talent, why did she hide it?

"I really need to get this done," she insisted, pointing at her homework, "Can we please continue?"

Nick nodded but his mind was swimming trying to figure that girl out. She was popular and beautiful, but she was also creative and smart. He couldn't wait to figure her out

Even as he rode his bike home and as he did his own homework and throughout dinner he couldn't stop thinking about how good they were. And how real. They weren't just some silly heartsick teenage girl stuff. Not that there was a problem with that type of stuff. It had just surprised him that Miley could be so deep.

Miley was like a mystery. She was so many things wrapped up into one person and Nick was just starting to get a glimpse of it. And even though it was probably pointless, Nick wanted to know her completely. Somehow it felt like she was letting him in, even if it was only in his imagination. Before Miley, his life was boring a predictable, but she added a whole new element to it. He was determined to figure Miley Stewart out. 


	3. Chapter 3

The next week went by without a problem. Miley remained friendly during their tutoring and everyday she was doing better and better. At school she mostly ignored Nick, but that didn't bother him because he knew that he would probably be embarrassed if she said something to him in front of everyone.

It was lunchtime again and as usual Selena was going on about some thing or another. He thought it was something about how her English teacher didn't appreciate her essay on the hierarchy of highschool... or something like that. Sometimes it was hard for him to keep up with her.

Nick's eyes swept across the lunchroom, naturally falling on Miley. He frowned to himself when he saw her sitting a little ways away from her friends with Jake. He couldn't see Jake's face, but his blonde hair was unmistakeable. Miley was shaking her head and she looked a little upset. Nick wondered what they were talking about.

His curiousity took over and he decided to walk over there. He still wanted to figure Miley out and figuring out her and Jake seemed to be part of that. Luckily, to get to the trashcans he had to walk past her table. He gathered up his trash on his tray. Now he just had to make sure that Selena didn't come too.

"Hey, want me to throw that out for you?" he asked her, gesturing to the remains of food in front of her. She smiled at him brightly.

"Aw that's so sweet, thanks," she cooed while Nick tried not to look freaked out. Nick put her stuff on his tray and got up. He walked slowly as he passed by Miley and Jake and strained his ears to listen to their conversation. He wasn't dumb enough to watch them too so when he suddenly heard Jake yelling he was surprised.

"Yo, Nate!" he called and Nick looked up to see what was going on. Surprisingly Jake was looking right at him. "Nate!" he called again.

"It's Nick," Miley said annoyed, crossing her arms. Nick was confused but he walked over to the couple.

"Hey man," Jake said offering his fist out for Nick to pound. Nick felt extremely awkward as he bumped fists with him. Jake's sudden friendliness reminded Nick of Selena's words: _People like that only use people._ "So Nick, I was thinking, how about if you and Miley cancel your tutoring tonight so that I can take my girl out?"

Nick looked at Miley who was behind Jake. She looked him straight in the eye and shook her head subtly. Nick raised an eyebrow and Miley mouthed 'No'. Nick was confused, but if that was what Miley wanted...

"Um, actually," Nick said nervously, "I really need the service hours and Miley really needs to study so..."

Jake's face hardened and for a moment Nick was scared. Was he going to beat Nick up or something? Then Miley touched Jake's arm gently and he relaxed.

"Fine, man," Jake said, but Nick could still tell he was annoyed. The smile Miley shot him was worth it though. It was big and genuine and accompanied by a wink. Then Jake turned back to Miley and Nick left quickly to throw out his trash.

***

After school, Nick was walking to his bus when he heard a female voice calling his name. He figured it was Selena so he pretended he didn't hear it and kept walking. He knew she was going to ask to hang out and he didn't feel like making another excuse.

"Nick!" the voice called again, but this time it was closer and punctuated with a car horn. Nick jumped and looked to his left to see a silver BMW convertible pulled up next to him. In the driver's seat sat Miley. Nick stopped.

"Finally!" she said exasperated, "Want a ride?"

Nick looked around and was surprised no one was watching them. He wondered if it was some kind of trick or something. Why would she offer him a ride?

"I can drop you off at your house if you want to," Miley continued, "Or we could just go right to my house and have a snack then start studying."

Nick's tongue was dry and he wasn't sure if he could talk so he just nodded his head. Miley pushed a button and her car made a noise indicating that it was unlocked. Nick opened the passenger door and sat down, looking straight ahead and not at her.

"So my place or yours?" Miley asked in a teasing voice. It still made Nick nervous even though it was obvious she was joking.

"Yours is fine," he managed to get out. He didn't want to have to explain to his mom who Miley was or why she was driving him. He had a feeling that his mom probably wouldn't be impressed with the dark denim shorts and black leather boots Miley was currently sporting. He glanced at her for a second and saw her putting the car into drive and pulling out.

"Thank you SO much for the thing with Jake," Miley said and suddenly it made sense to Nick. Obviously she was just returning the favor by offering him a ride.

"No problem," Nick said shifting in his seat, "Um, what's up with him anyway?"

Miley glanced at Nick for a second and he was worried he had crossed the line and she was going to shut him down.

"Nothing... We're just friends."

"Oh I thought he was-"

"My boyfriend?" Miley interrupted with a smirk, "That's what he like to pretend. Captain of the football team and Head Cheerleader, that's how it's supposed to be, right?"

"I don't know," Nick said carefully, "Maybe things could be different."

Miley glanced at him for a second and then put her eyes back on the road.

"Maybe," she agreed.

The rest of the ride to Miley's house was silent. Nick had no idea what to say even though his mind was full of questions. Why did Miley hide behind that popular facade? She seemed like she was so much more than that.

Miley parked in the driveway and got out of the car. Nick followed her as she punched in the code to her garage.

"It's a little messy," she warned as the door opened revealing a whole lot of junk or so it seemed to Nick's eyes. He concentrated on navigating though the mess until they got to the door into the house. It opened to a small hallway with a closet and a back staircase. Miley took off her leather jacket and hung it up and then she slid off her black boots.

"You hungry?" she asked, walking out of the hallway into a spacious kitchen with a huge island in the middle. Nick shrugged. "Well, I am," she said opening up the pantry and searching for something. After rumaging around for a while she pulled out a bag of tortilla chips. Then she went into the fridge and got out some salsa.

"You want a coke?" Nick nodded and she tossed one to him quickly, "Think fast." He caught it effortlessly. "Nice catch," she said and she was obviously impressed.

He watched her movements as she went into another cabinet and got out a bowl. She carefully poured out some salsa and put it back. Then she got out a bigger bowl and poured out chips.

She hummed to herself while she worked and for some reason it made Nick feel a little more comfortable.

"You can sit down you know," Miley giggled at him as he was just standing there awkwardly. She gestured to one of the barstools on the island and then took a seat herself. Nick sat down next to her and took a chip eating it slowly.

"Soo Nick," Miley said munching on chips herself, "What's your story?"

"My... Story?" he asked confused.

"Yeah," Miley smiled, "What's your deal?"

Nick shrugged, "I don't know."

Although Nick was kind of embarrassed by his answer and being unable to say anything interesting about himself Miley seemed to mull it over in her head as if he had said something profound.

"Do you play any sports?" Miley continued to question him. It was obvious that she was the kind of person who needed conversation and wasn't afraid to go after it.

"Um not anymore," Nick answered quickly without thinking.

"Why not?" she inquired. Nick squirmed. Why was she asking him so many personal questions? Couldn't she just talk about the weather or school or something?

"That's Joe's thing," he mumbled quietly, looking down at the granite counter tops.

"Oh!" Miley said, her eyes lighting up in realization, "You're Joe's brother!"

Nick nodded, "Yep."

"He's... Interesting," Miley laughed, "A great athlete though."

"Yeah, he's a star," it took everything in Nick not to roll his eyes.

"You know, there's no rule that says because Joe plays sports you can't."

"I just don't have the time," Nick said a little forcefully, sucessfully ending the conversation.

"I'm done," Miley said gesturing to the chips, "are you?"

"Um, yeah," Nick said and Miley hopped off her chair to pick up the mess.

"Ready to go study?" Miley said with false enthusiasm.

Nick laughed at her antics, "Yeah, are you?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she smirked, heading into the foyer and then up the stairs.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Nick asked her as they walked into her room.

"Ellipses," Miley groaned, "And I'm so lost. Good luck."

Nick smiled and they took their places at her desk.

"Alright, Mr. Lucas," Miley said, opening her book, "Work your magic. Make it all make sense."

"Okay an ellipse is the locus of all points of the plane whose distances to two fixed points add to the same constant," Nick told her and then began to explain.

Nick patiently went over the definition and the equation over and over, making Miley repeat the information back to him until she understood it. As the turtoring session continued, Miley began to move closer to him so she could see the paper he was using to show her the problems. Soon her knee was brushing softly against his own. Nick noticed right away, but tried to ignore the tingling feeling it gave him in the pit of his stomach.

But Nick couldn't concentrate with Miley's knee rubbing against him. She was so close and her bare knee against his jeans was driving him crazy. He could smell the woodsy scent of her perfume and her lotion and her hair barely grazed his arm teasing his nerves.

Nick realized he was shaking. He just didn't know what was going on. He was annoyed at himself, but any guy would get nervous sitting this close to Miley Stewart. He just hoped Miley wouldn't notice.

"Nick?" Miley said suddenly, interrupting his explanation of one of the problems.

Nick looked at her expectantly because he couldn't speak while looking into her blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, placing a hand on his shaking thigh. A small squeak escaped his lips, but luckily she didn't seem to notice.

"I'm fine," Nick said quickly looking down at the book. She didn't move her hand and Nick began to tremble again. He looked back up and she was right in front of his face. There had to be less than and inch of space between their noses.

"Do I make you nervous?" she whispered, her breath hitting Nick's lips. _Yes_. But he couldn't say that.

"N-no," Nick stammered, well-aware of how unconvincing he sounded.

Miley smiled at his reaction and raised her hand bringing it up to cup his cheek. Nick's breathing seemed to stop. Then Miley leaned in and before Nick could even register what was happening, her lips were touching his. He didn't really know what to do but instinct seemed to take over. He leaned in a little putting a little pressure back on her lips.

It was brief and it was over soon as Miley pulled away. Nick stayed completely still, unsure of what had just happened. Did she really just kiss him?

Nick sat there, feeling kind of stupid and also kind of wishing she would kiss him again. It had been nice. It was soft and sweet and Nick wasn't sure how he felt about it, but maybe if it happened again he could figure it out.

But Miley went right back to her work without mentioning it again and Nick was too chicken to bring it up.

"Um, I should go," Nick said getting up suddenly. He turned, hoping she wouldn't notice he was blushing.

"What?" Miley said confused, looking up from her work.

"Um, yeah, it's late and I need to... My mom will be wondering where I am," another blush appeared on his face. Why did he just say that? She freaking kissed him and then he goes and says something about his mom. Why was he so lame?

"Oh well-" Miley started but Nick was already out the door and heading down the stairs. It wasn't until he got outside that he remembered she had given him a ride there and realized he'd have to walk the 10 blocks home.

***

"What happened to you, mister?" Nick's mom asked with her hands on her hips as Nick finally got home.

"Sorry, mom," Nick mumbled, giving her a hug, "Miley gave me a ride home and I forgot so I had to walk home."

"Why didn't you just ask her for a ride?" Mrs. Lucas asked looking at her son in confusion. Nick didn't want to tell her what had happened so he just shrugged.

"You should've called," she chided, "Next time, okay?"

"Yeah, mom, I will," Nick promised before going towards his room.

"Dad's going to be here soon," his mom called up to him, "Half an hour until dinner, okay?"

Nick grunted in response and went to his room. He began working on his homework and time passed quickly until it was time for dinner.

Nick dutifully went downstairs to see his parents and Joe already at the table. His mom had already set all the food out. His oldest brother, Kevin, was away at college.

"Hey dad," Nick said as he took his seat.

"Hi, Nick," his dad said before turning to Joe, "So Joe, how was practice today?"

"It was good," Joe said, putting potatoes on his plate, "I think we're gonna win the game this week as long as Ryan keeps his form."

Mr. Lucas nodded, "Good. That's great. I can't wait to watch."

Nick pushed his food around his plate as he listened to this exchange._ I got an A+ on my math test,_ Nick thought to himself. But he knew his father wouldn't care if he said it outloud. Oh sure, he would pretend to be happy, giving him a nice job or something, but then surely he would turn back to Joe and talk about offensive plays or something like that.

"This is an important year, Joe," his dad continued, "Scouts are going to be checking you out like crazy. You need to play your best so you can get that football scholarship."

"I know," Joe said with a smile, "Don't worry. I've got it under control."

_I kissed Miley Stewart _Nick thought. He chuckled as he thought of what Joe's reaction would be to that. And sadly, even Nick's dad would probably be impressed by that. But Nick still didn't want to say anything. He didn't want to call attention to himself. After all, being invisible was what Nick Lucas was best at. 


	4. Chapter 4

**NEW CHAPTER**

Nick convinced himself that what happened between Miley and him was a dream. There was definitely no way that she had leaned in and kissed him. He must have imagined it.

Which was why he was completely confused when he walked into the cafeteria and she waved and smiled at him.

He looked around nervously to see several people watching him before giving her a nervous wave back. Then, almost as if it hadn't happened, she turned back to her friends.

"What was that all about?" Selena asked, suddenly appearing at his side. Nick jumped slightly.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug and began to make his way to their table. His mom was on a maternal kick and had a brown paper bag with his name on it waiting on the counter that morning.

"That girl is so desperate for attention," Selena said bitterly, "I bet she just wants rumors to start about her and a freshman so that people will just talk about it more. She doesn't even care that she's basically using you."

Nick hadn't thought about it that way. But if all she was going for was rumors, then why did she kiss him when they were alone in his room? It didn't make sense.

"You want to know what I heard about her?" Selena whispered quietly, leaning across the table and gesturing for him to so the same.

Nick knew that gossip was wrong and usually spiteful, but that didn't stop him from leaning in to hear what Selena had to say.

"Okay, so I heard this from Jen who heard it from Casey, who heard it from Tina who overheard it from her brother, who's a senior, on the phone," Nick tried his best not to roll his eyes as Selena started, "So last weekend there was like this huge kegger at Jake Ryan's house."

Selena looked and Nick and he nodded for her to continue.

"So apparently, Jake got like really super trashed and him and Miley upstairs and, well, you know," Selena whispered.

Nick stayed quiet. Miley told him there was nothing going on between them, but Jake liked to pretend there is. So of course he couldn't say that to Selena. He was already beginning to dismiss her story.

"But that's not the worst part," Selena continued, "After she was done with Jake she came back down to the party... Some of Jake's older brother's friends were there, you know, college boys. And apparently Miley went upstairs with a few of them. What a slut," Selena said with disgust, "Cheating on her boyfriend and hooking up with more than one guy in one night. That's just sleazy."

Nick nodded slowly as he chewed. This was typically the kind of thing that was being whispered about Miley. Nick had heard variations of the same story over and over, but now he was finding it harder and harder to believe.

"So do you have any plans for tonight?" Selena asked eagerly. It amazed Nick how she could go from gossiping to a seemingly innocent girl. She had her shiny white smile plastered on her face and Nick was suddenly aware of how desperate she looked. He looked at her shirt and realized that he had definitely seen Miley wearing a variation of the same one a few weeks ago. Her hair was teased into the same messy curls that Miley sported on most days. Nick wondered if Selena had ever had a boyfriend. He couldn't remember. He wondered if anyone had ever called her pretty because with her dark colored hair and bubbly face, she was pretty. But she didn't stand out. Maybe dating her wouldn't be that bad. Maybe he could learn to like her. Or at the very least at least he would be able to say he had been on a date before.

Which is why he said what he did next.

"Nah, you wanna hang out tonight?"

The transformation of her appearance was stunning. She seemed to be sitting up straighter, holding her head higher, and smiling genuinely.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Selena said shaking her head eagerly.

"What do you want to do?" Nick asked her. He wasn't exactly an expert on dates. It's not like he could drive so he wasn't sure what they were going to do.

"Maybe we could get something to eat or something?" she offered hopefully.

"Yeah, sure," Nick agreed, "How about I call you later to figure out rides and stuff?"

Selena blushed and smiled and Nick couldn't help but think that it was kind of cute. She agreed and then excused herself.

Nick looked around the cafeteria and saw Miley in the dessert line by herself. He suddenly remembered that he was supposed to tutor her. How could he have forgotten?

As if she could feel his eyes on her she turned around and caught his eye. She smiled at him. Well, Nick though, now is a good a time as any.

He got up and tossed out his trash then casually headed to the dessert line as well.

"Hey, Miley," he said praying that his voice wouldn't squeak. It felt weird to talk to her in front of people.

"Hi, Nick," Miley replied, "What's up?"

"I, um, well, I-" he stuttered. With her standing in front of him he suddenly felt very nervous. Who was he to turn down Miley Stewart? But then again, it's not like they were hanging out. It was school work, she'd probably be ecstatic to get to skip it.

"Are you okay?" she asked nervously giving him an odd look. It was only then that he realized he was holding his breath. He took in a lungful of air before trying to speak again.

"I can't do tutoring tonight," he blurted out, "I have previous engagements."

Shit. Why did he always make himself seem like an idiot around her? And why didn't he want to tell her he had a date?

"Oh," she said surprised, "Well, that's fine. Thanks for letting me know."

Nick wasn't sure if he was imagined it but her voice seemed a little stiffer. Was she upset? Was it because she had kissed him? He didn't know.

"Yeah, so, um, I'll see you around?" he said awkwardly.

"Yep," she said and then turned around as if he wasn't even there. Harsh. But it was true that he could have given her a little more warning.

Nick brushed it off and then decided to go early to his next class.

"Joe!" Nick called as he knocked on his older brother's door, "Joe, open up, I need you to do me a favor."

The door swung open and Joe stood there in gym shorts and a black wife beater.

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

Nick took a deep breath. He was fully aware of how much Joe was going to tease him, but he was ready to take that risk.

"I need you to drive Selena and I..."

"On a date?" Joe said with a knowing smile on his face, "I knew it!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're a genius," Nick rolled his eyes, "Now are you going to or not?"

"I guess I'll drive my little brother on his first date," Joe continued to tease him, "Where are you going?"

Nick shrugged, "I told her I'd call her once I figured out if we had a ride."

"So call her."

"I was just going to," Nick said annoyed. Obviously he knew he should call her now. He wasn't an idiot but somehow Joe always made him feel like one.

He went back to his own room and pulled out his phone and called Selena's number. After about half a ring, she answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Nick."

She giggled, "I know. So do we have a ride?"

"Yeah, Joe said he'd take us. Is there anything you'd like to do?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could go to the diner?" she asked cautiously.

The diner was a relatively notorious place for people from their school. It was where people went to be seen. They were bound to get spotted by a bunch of their classmates. Nick wasn't sure if he wanted to do something that public yet.

"Or maybe we could go to the movies," Nick suggested lamely.

"Or we could do both!" Selena said excitedly, like it was the best idea ever and she was just so smart for coming up with it.

Nick opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't think of any other excuse. And as usual, he wanted to avoid confrontation.

"Yeah that sounds great," he said quietly, "We'll pick you up around six, okay?"

"That's perfect," Selena gushed, "And Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really happy you asked me out."

Before Nick could say it wasn't that big of a deal, Selena had hung up the phone. He groaned. He was already in over his head with this one. It was going to be a long night.

Six came around and Nick jumped out of Joe's car to go get Selena. He rang the door bell and she opened the door almost before his finger left the button.

"Bye, mom, I'm leaving now," she called and then left walked out the door, leaving Nick to trail behind her. She was wearing a modestly short denim skirt and a tank top with a little cardigan over it. She looked cute, Nick had to admit. Her hair was wavy and Nick couldn't help but think of Miley again before he banished that thought from his mind. He needed to stop comparing them.

He opened the back door for her and she slid in the car. He wondered if he was supposed to sit in the back with her or not. He hesitated for a moment before closing the door and then getting in the passenger seat. Nick looked straight ahead, not wanting to see the disappointed look on her face or the smirk that was probably on Joe's.

"So you're in Nick's class?" Joe spoke up, trying to make conversation as they drove the few blocks to the diner. Luckily, the movie theater was right next to it (which was probably one of the reasons why it was so popular).

"Yes," Selena spoke up, "We're in the same grade and we have a few classes together."

Joe and Selena continued to make awkward small talk while Nick sat there in silence. He didn't want to be here. But he had gotten himself into this mess. And truthfully, Selena was a nice girl, she was just a little… infatuated with him whereas he wasn't sure how he felt about her.

They pulled up at the diner and they all got out. Joe was meeting some friends there as well which made Nick even more annoyed that Selena had picked this spot. From the moment they walked in he felt like everyone was staring at them. Joe went off to catch up with his group while Nick and Selena went up to the counter.

"Two, please," Nick said to the middle aged blonde woman who was working there.

She smacked her gum. "Right this way," she said as she grabbed two menus and led them to a small booth. Nick sat so that he was facing the door and Selena sat on the other side.

"Wow, practically our whole school is here," she said with a giggle, looking around the room. Nick looked around too. There were a few people from his classes staring at him with Selena. He couldn't help but notice the pride in her voice as she said it. He suddenly felt like he was some kind of trophy to her.

They ordered drinks while Selena chatted aimlessly about her day and her classes and what her homework load was like. It was just like lunch, actually. Except instead of in school they were in a diner.

Right after they ordered their meals, there was a sudden commotion at the door. A whole group of seniors entered the diner, being loud and overbearing as seniors often are. Nick shrunk in his seat when he saw Miley standing there, laughing with her friend Demi, while Jake's arm was wrapped around her.

Her eyes scanned the room and she saw Nick. She smiled and then she saw he was sitting with a girl. Her eyes turned into a glare and then as quickly as she had looked at him, she looked away.

He suddenly felt uncomfortable. He didn't know why he felt strange being on a date with Selena with Miley in the room too. Soon Miley and her friends were ushered into a different part of the diner and Nick breathed a sigh of relief.

"I can't stand them," Selena said annoyed, "They think they run the world just because they're seniors. It's so rude."

"They're just excited to be getting out of here soon," Nick said without thinking. Selena looked at him a little shocked. Usually, he just nodded and agreed with her sentiments about people.

"Well, they could be a little more considerate to everyone else," she huffed and then looked at Nick almost like she was daring him to argue.

"Yeah…" he said lamely and then welcomed the distraction of their food arriving in front of them. As they ate, Nick couldn't help but pick up on Miley's laugh coming from the other room. It wasn't that loud, but it seemed like Nick's ears were tuned to it.

They finished eating and Nick paid the bill. When they went to get up, Selena grabbed Nick's hand. He wasn't expecting it, but he thought it would seem really rude to pull away. And he didn't want to embarrass her in front of everyone because, like he kept telling himself, she was a nice girl.

They walked the whole way to the movie theater holding hands and Nick was relieved when he had to let go to take out his wallet.

"What movie do you want to watch?" he asked her as they waited in line.

"I don't know, what do you want to watch?" she asked him. He knew she wanted him to suggest a romantic comedy or something, but he couldn't do it. First of all, he thought they were stupid and second of all, it seemed like something really serious couples did and as far as Nick was concerned, this was just one date.

"How about that new action movie?" he suggested. The only other options were either little kid movies, rated R, or were thrillers. He really didn't want her hanging on to him the whole movie.

"Yeah, sure, I've been meaning to see that…" she said, putting on a smile. Nick knew she was lying, but he didn't care. At this point, he was just waiting for the date to be over. He bought their tickets and then they bought snacks. Nick was careful to put his soda in between the two of them so that holding hands was out of the question.

He enjoyed the movie and even forgot Selena was there for some of it. But every once in a while she would have to make a comment about how a part was "unrealistic" or "stupid" or "looked so fake" and once again Nick would wish the date was over.

When it was and Joe drove them back to Selena's house, Nick got out of the car to walk her up. It just seemed rude not to.

"I had a really nice time tonight, Nick," Selena said sweetly at her front door, "I'm really happy you asked me out."

Did she have to keep rubbing that in his face? Nick couldn't think of anything else to say and Selena wasn't opening her door to go inside. Was she waiting for a kiss or something? Because that wasn't happening.

"Well, bye," Nick said abruptly and began to walk down the driveway back to the car. He heard her door open and close, but he didn't look back.

"Awkward,' Joe joked as he got in the car.

"I don't want to talk about it," Nick said, sliding down in his seat.

"Not what you expected, huh?"

Nick ignored him, but what he was really thinking was that he should have known from the start that it'd be like this.

**Poor Selena. Nick is leading her on. Actually, she's kind of leading herself on haha. Get those reviews flowing people! I know a lot of you missed this story. Oh and thanks for all the NJK nominations already! You guys are the best 3**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry, it's a little shorter than usual. **

The next day at lunch, Nick avoided Selena by claiming that he had to do work in the library. It was actually amazing that she didn't follow him, but he insisted that he had some history work to do. Thank God they were in different classes. She had spent most of Chem being extremely _touchy_ and eyeing his hand like he wanted to hold it. So he moved it off the desk and onto his lap. He was hyper aware of her staring at him the whole time. To say he was uncomfortable would be an understatement. He took her on _one date_ and she was asking like this.

So Nick sat in the back of the library between non-fiction shelves where he knew most people didn't venture, especially during lunch. Even he himself wouldn't have gone there during lunch if he didn't know that he would be left alone there.

He took out his math book and began his homework. It was lame, but it's not like he would be happy just sitting there for a whole lunch period. And this way at least he would have less work later. He was beginning to think his schedule was a little too rigorous for freshman year.

But even as he was doing his work, his mind was wandering. His date with Selena had been miserable for him. She just... tried too hard. She acted like they were a long term couple and it was too much too fast for Nick. He wanted to believe that he could learn to like her, but she just made it so hard.

At least he'd get to see Miley later. As soon as that thought cross his mind he shook it out. He couldn't be thinking of her like that. They weren't even friends. So maybe she had kissed him, but given the look she had shot him at the diner he suspected she regretted it. Still, he wondered what that had been about.

Then the bell rang for lunch. Just two more periods until he figured it out...

Later when Nick rang the doorbell, Miley's mom opened it instead of Miley herself.

"Hi, Nick," Mrs. Stewart said with a smile, "Come in, Miley's upstairs."

"Thanks," Nick replied as he walked in.

"She seems a little out of it," Mrs. Stewart said confidentially, "So sorry if you can't get through to her today. I think she had a bad night or something."

Nick wondered what she meant as he trudged up the stairs to her room. Maybe that would explain her hostile mood yesterday. It wasn't like he expected her to say hi or wave or something, but he didn't expect the cold glare that still sent a shiver up his spine. When he got upstairs the door to her room was open, but he knocked softly on the frame anyway.

Her head looked up from her books and she nodded for him to come in without actually saying anything. Nick hoped that she wouldn't give him the silent treatment. He was awkward at making conversation as it was, he might pass out trying to talk to someone who was ignoring him.

"Hey," Nick said quietly and shyly.

"Hi," she said back and then resumed the work she was doing. Nick looked at it. She had already started her math homework.

"I see you got started without me."

"Yeah, well, I have things to do tonight so I need to get this over with," she retorted coolly.

Okay, then Nick thought. She did seem to have a bit of an attitude problem today, but Nick couldn't for the life of him figure out what the problem was. Maybe it had nothing to do with him. Maybe she had a fight with a friend or something.

"How about you just work on it and if you get stuck, you can ask me?" Nick suggested.

"Whatever," Miley mumbled and didn't look up. Nick glanced at her paper again and then took out his own things to start doing his work. He barely got anything done during lunch because he was so distracted.

For the next ten minutes, Nick listened to Miley sigh, erase her work, scratch down new work, then sigh again and start the process over. He glanced at her sheet again. She hadn't even got past the problem she was working on when Nick came in.

"Would you like some help?" Nick asked, adjusting his glasses.

"No," Miley replied stubbornly.

"You've been working on that problem for the past ten minutes."

"I'm just not getting the same answer that's in the back of the book," she explained through gritted teeth.

"Let me help you then."

"Fine."

Nick explained the work to her and they found her math error. But there was no playful banter or her usual witty comments. For once it actually felt like he was just some random guy tutoring her. When it was over, Nick couldn't help but feel relieved.

As Nick was riding his bike home, he suddenly realized that he left one of his notebooks at Miley's house and that he would need it to do his chem homework. He was still closer to her house than to his so he turned around and rode back to her door.

Mrs. Stewart opened the door again, but this time she was surprised to see him.

"Hi, Mrs. Stewart, I left my notebook in Miley's room," Nick explained himself.

She chuckled at his forgetfulness, "Go on up. She's in there."

Nick wasn't sure if he should be happy or nervous about that, but regardless he went up stairs.

When he hit the landing he heard some loud music coming from Miley's room. Something acoustic. As he approached the room he realized it was her. Playing guitar and singing. And she was good. Really good. He paused in the doorway to listen to her.

It was short, but Nick couldn't help but clap when she was done. She looked up from where she was sitting on her bed cross legged looking alarmed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, but instead of sounding angry, she sounded nervous.

"Did you write that?" Nick answered her question with a question.

"I-" she hesitated, "Yes, yes I did."

"Wow, I didn't even know you played," Nick said, moving closer to her.

"No one does," she said, her anger back, "And it's going to stay that way!" she gave him a threatening glare and he froze in his spot.

"I- I won't tell," he stuttered, still looking at her in awe. "That 'poem' from the other day... Was that a song?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"I just really liked it. You're really good," Nick complimented her, talking much more than he normally would. He suddenly felt like she wasn't some shallow ice queen.

"Why do you hide it?" Nick blurted out, suddenly feeling bond.

She looked at him shocked that someone like him would ask someone like her such an intrusive question. She seemed to falter for a second and Nick honestly thought she was going to answer the question. But then she put her guitar down and stood up, crossing her arms.

"Well, I'm not the only one keeping secrets."

Nick didn't miss her accusing tone. Was she implying that he had a secret? He racked his brain trying to think of one, but he came up empty.

"Yeah," she continued angrily, "Did you think I wouldn't find out about your little girlfriend? Funny how you never mentioned her. Especially after we kissed. I bet you'd thought you could just use me right?"

Nick was stunned into silence. A girlfriend? Huh? Did she mean _Selena_?

"Despite the rumors that I'm sure you've heard, I'm not just someone you can mess around with. I don't approve of cheaters." She stared at him as if daring him to try and defend himself.

"Do you mean Selena?" was the only thing Nick could manage to get out. He was still a little blown away by her anger and annoyance at him. So she was mad because she thought Nick was going to take advantage of _her_? Was she serious?

"Oh, is that her name?" Miley said raising an eyebrow, "I saw you on your little date. If you really didn't want me to find out you shouldn't have gone to the diner. I might not keep up with underclassmen romances, but you should've known I'd be there."

Nick couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Miley gave him an offended look. He quickly cleared his throat and explained.

"She's _not _my girlfriend," Nick insisted, "We're just friends. She's kind of, um, into me so I thought I'd give it a try last night. But trust me, there's nothing happening there."

It was kind of amazing that Nick was spilling that much information to this girl. Before, he was barely able to say five words to her. But seeing her vulnerable and hurt (by him no less) gave him a new sense of confidence.

"Are you sure?" she said still looking suspicious. She was distrustful of guys and Nick saw that under her bad girl façade. He wondered what had made her this way. More questions about her. But maybe that was part of what made her so interesting to Nick. He liked to think that he was better than being into her just because she was good looking.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Nick insisted. She looked at him again and then uncrossed her arms.

"Okay, I believe you. It's just that I know people talk about me and I just thought maybe you thought I was okay with being the other woman. But I'm not. I'm not some moral-less girl."

"I know," Nick told her with a smile, "So we're good?"

"Yeah," Miley said with a grin of her own, opening her arms for a hug, "We're good."

Nick moved closer and hugged her back. It was surprising but it was nice. What happened next surprised him even more though. She pulled away slightly and pecked him on the lips. He froze for a moment. Did she just kiss him _again_?

"I think you're a really good guy, Nick," she whispered, suddenly serious. She brought his hand up to cup his cheek. "And I want to get to know you better."

Nick thought his heart has stopped. Was this really happening to him? Of all the guys who lusted after her, she was kissing him and basically saying she was interested in him? Instead of responding to her verbally, he leaned in and tried kissing her. It was the first time he had ever done something so brave. But with her it felt kind of natural. Things he used to stress over when thinking about kissing a girl didn't seem like such a big deal. His hands seemed to know where to hold her around the waist and his lips knew what amount of pressure to apply. She put pressure back on his lips, kissing him hard then giggled and pulled away.

"You need to go," she said with a smile, "I wasn't kidding when I said I had plans. Demi's on her way over."

She pecked him on the lips again and then let go and turned around to start picking up her guitar stuff. And that was that. Nick was excused to go. He turned around and walked out the door and down the steps like he was in a trance. He wondered when he was going to wake up from this dream. It couldn't last forever, right?

It wasn't until he was alone in his room that he realized he didn't get his notebook. He had once again left it in Miley's room. She had distracted him from what he came back for. Apparently, he wasn't doing his Chem homework tonight.

Somehow, it seemed worth it.

* * *

**So cute. What will Selena think of Nick not doing his homework? Will Nick tell anyone what happened? Will Miley? Will whatever's going on between them work out? Will Nick ever figure Miley out? Dun, dun, dun...**


	6. Chapter 6

**oh this story still exists? what?**

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Nick wasn't really sure how he got into the position he was in. One moment him and Miley were studying and then the next she was kissing him softly on the lips before her tongue ran across them, causing him to open his mouth slightly. Then her tongue was darting in to meet his and he was suddenly making out with her. She moved closer and closer, putting one hand on the back of his neck until suddenly she was so close that she was on his lap. He froze for a moment and then placed his hands on her hips, steadying her body as it straddled his.

To say he was turned on would be an understatement. He quickly got into the movement of their tongues twisting together and he even began to duel for dominance with her, trying to take control of the depth of the kissing. Her hand on the back of his neck slid into his hair and the other hand replaced it.

"Mmm," she made a soft noise of pleasure while they kissed. An otherwise dormant part of Nick was unleashed at her sexy noise and a low growl escaped his chest. He slid his hands lower on her waist to her hips and then tentatively even lower. He stopped for a moment while she continued to kiss him, which he took as a sign to continue.

His hands cupped the ass that all the straight males at his school dreamed about, pulling her closer to him. It was firm and fit perfectly in his hands and Nick knew that he was lucky. How he got so lucky, he didn't know, but damn.

Her hands reached back and grasped his wrists gently. For a moment he was afraid that he had crossed the line and that everything that was happening between them was going to come crashing down.

"Touch me," she whispered and placed his hands directly over her chest.

Oh shit. She made little sighs of pleasure as his hands tentatively touched her breasts through her shirt, first just brushing them lightly and then squeezing them in his hands.

Were they going to have sex? Nick wondered. Did he want to have sex? Well, yeah, certain parts of his body that were currently filling up with blood definitely wanted to. But did he, Nicholas Lucas, want to have sex right now with this girl?

_No_ was his final answer. But as soon as he figured this out, she pulled away from him and went back to her own chair and her own work.

He stared at her in shock and she glanced over at him and giggled.

"What? You just looked so cute. I couldn't resist."

Nick wasn't really sure if he liked the word "cute" being used to describe him, but if it led to what had just happened then he couldn't complain.

She went back to her work, chewing on her eraser, while Nick watched her. Her blue eyes were like windows to her brain and he could practically see her thought process as she worked through the problems. He wondered what was up with them. He had never dated, let alone "hooked up" and he wasn't really sure what protocol he was supposed to follow.

"Hey, do you- I mean - would you, maybe, uh, want to go out sometime?" he asked her suddenly. He wanted to see her in a different light. Not at school and not during a tutoring session.

"You mean, like a date?"

"I guess," he said quickly, "Or just like two friends going out for dinner. Or something."

"To the diner?" she asked her blue eyes now little slits. Clearly she had misread his attempt to get to know her as a chance to show her off to the whole school.

"No, I was thinking somewhere more private," Nick said trying to look her straight in the eyes, "Like maybe a nice restaurant, but if you're not into that..."

"How about Saturday?" Miley interrupted what was about to be a very awkward nervous rant.

"Saturday is good," Nick said in relief, "But, um, you'll have to drive because obviously I can't..."

"That's fine, I like being in control," Miley said with a wink.

Control. That seemed to be something Nick was lacking lately. Especially when it came to Miley. She was just irresistible. He couldn't help but want her. Every guy wanted her. And she seemed to want him. She liked being in control and she was in control when it came to them. She was obviously the more experienced senior girl and Nick was the innocent freshman. It was clichéd except for the fact that the gender was reversed. It was ironic, but Nick couldn't help it.

When Saturday came, Nick was a nervous wreck. He kept going online and checking the balance on his debit card, making sure he had enough money for this date. How embarrassing would it be if he didn't? What if his card was denied? For once, Nick was glad that he basically had no social life because it meant that most of the money he accumulated over the years was safely tucked away and now ready to be used. That didn't stop him from checking every second to make sure nothing had gone wrong though.

She was picking him up at seven, but by five he was already getting impatient so he got up and took a shower. The restaurant they were going to was nice, definitely not a jeans kind of place, so Nick put on dress pants and a nice button down shirt. He was debating whether or not to put on a tie when Joe burst into his room.

"Dude! Try knocking," Nick said while he tried to relax his startled heart.

"Have you seen my- woah," Joe said when he saw Nick all dressed up, "Where are you going?"

"Out."

"Yeah? On a date?" Joe pressed, sitting down on Nick's carefully made bed.

Nick ignored him. He didn't want to lie, but he didn't really want to share either. Joe, however, took his silence as a yes.

"With Selena?" Joe asked and Nick reverted to the same tactic as before, "Must be special if you're getting all dressed up."

Maybe Nick should have told him that it wasn't with Selena, but what was the harm in him thinking that? Joe would be leaving later and Nick's parents were away for the weekend. No one would be any wiser.

Joe looked as if he wanted to say something more, but instead he just turned around and left after mumbling, "have fun."

Nick looked back at himself in the mirror and decided on the tie. It was better to be overdressed than under dressed, right? He thought he had read that somewhere. Besides he told Miley to dress nice too.

He took another glance at himself and thought about what she had said to him once. "_You're pretty cute without your glasses_." He reached up and took them off his face. Then he remembered the free sample he had got the last time he went to the eye doctor.

Contacts. They were only single use, but that would be fine for tonight. Maybe tomorrow he could ask Joe to take him over to the eye doctor to get more. Maybe he'd entice him with some details about his date although Nick wasn't sure if he was ready to admit that it was Miley he was on a date with.

After about ten minutes, Nick heard the door open and close and Nick knew Joe had left for the night.

By 6:30 Nick was waiting by the door, peering out the window. He wanted to be able to just run out to meet her. It was already odd enough that she had to drive and he didn't want her to have to come to the door and get him. That would pretty much go against everything that he'd been raised to think.

At 6:58 exactly, Miley's convertible pulled into Nick's driveway and he opened the door and came out before turning around to lock it and heading for the car.

Miley smiled at him as he got in next to her. She was wearing a purple dress made out of some kind of loose, but somehow still clinging material. One shoulder had a thick braided strap and the other was bare. The hem ended a little above her knees when sitting down. Her hair was wavy and pulled off her face with a little pin-backed braid. In other words, she looked beautiful.

"You look really pretty," Nick said honestly as he took her in.

"You're not looking so bad yourself, mister," she said with a grin. Her eyes momentarily hesitated on his and he held his breath hoping she wouldn't make a big deal out of him not wearing his glasses. Luckily, she didn't.

"So where to?" she asked as she pulled out of his driveway.

"Just head towards the main street and I'll let you know where to turn," Nick said mysteriously. He saw a smile playing on her lips and he knew it was the right thing to do. Even if he wasn't the one driving he wasn't going to let go of all control on this date.

Before long they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant Nick was taking her to.

"Are you serious?" she asked as she parked the car. He noticed the sparkle in her eye and mentally patted himself on the back.

"Yeah," he said with a smile and then quickly got out and ran around to her car door so he could open it for her. He helped her out of the car and escorted her to the front door. The hostess took his name and sat them both down.

"So do you take all your girls here for the first date?" Miley asked teasingly.

"Only the ones I really like," Nick replied boldly. Wow. He wasn't sure where that burst of confidence to tease her had come from. But Miley laughed and he knew that it was the right thing to say. Somehow he always seemed to pull out the right thing to say or do in front of Miley.

"So what's your family like?" Miley asked him later on in their meal.

"Normal," he said with a shrug, which Miley seemed to think was hilarious.

"No, seriously, tell me about them," she urged him, looking right at him seemingly genuine.

"Well, you know Joe, the football superstar… I guess my dad is kind of like him. Into sports and that kind of guy stuff. My mom is just your typical housewife, I guess. She's really smart though. I'm more like her."

"Are you close to your mom?"

Nick panicked. Was this some kind of trick question? He decided it would be best to stick to a neutral answer.

"I guess."

"That's nice. I'm close to both my parents. You know, as an only child."

"I can't imagine not having any siblings," Nick blurted out before he realized how it sounded vaguely insulting.

She only smiled though, "Yeah, but Demi and I are so close that we're practically sisters. I've known her forever. Our parents actually met at a pre-natal class."

Nick was struck by her sincerity at her talking about Demi. Obviously he knew she had friends, but he kind of thought they were the artificial type who only hung out with her because she was so popular. He wondered if he would ever stop being surprised by her and realize that despite the pedestal she was put on, she was just a normal girl.

After dinner, Miley pulled into Nick's driveway and turned off the car.

"Is it okay if I walk you in?" Miley asked, biting her lip and looking at him unsure. He wasn't going say no though, even if it was different from the normal.

"I really had a good time," she said softly as they stood on his doorstep, "I don't think I've ever been on a fancy date like this before. Usually it's just group things or to a party or a school dance."

Nick's jaw almost dropped to the floor at her confession. He couldn't believe that no one had ever treated her on a date like theirs. He thought it was standard protocol for dates to be the guy taking the girl to a nice restaurant.

While he was pondering this, Miley leaned in a left a simple, but lingering, kiss on his lips.

"Bye, Nick," she said before skipping down the front walk to her car.

Only once he saw her drive away did he go inside.

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**Aw so cute. Nick and Miley becoming closer. Soo I was just having problems getting what I wanted to say into words for this story and I've just been putting it off, but finally I just decided to suck it up and write it. So hopefully it came out okay. **

**I'm also bumping the rating up to M. MMMmmMM get sleaZZy, Niley ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, Nick!" Selena said loudly and brightly when she walked into Chemistry on Monday.

"Hi, Selena," he said casually, taking out his notebook and a pencil.

"Did you have a good weekend?"

Nick froze. She knew. She had to know, why else would she ask? He should have known someone would spot him with Miley. He looked up at her guiltily, but her face looked as placid as ever. Maybe she didn't know. He really needed to not be so paranoid.

"Yeah, it was—"

"Mine was awesome," Selena interrupted, almost as if she had only asked him so she could talk about her own weekend, "I visited my cousin and we went to this really crazy party."

"Cool," Nick said trying not to give her a look that said she was crazy. It was pretty obvious to Nick that she was just bragging.

"Yeah, I had a little too much to drink though," Selena said with a giggle, "But I met a lot of guys."

"Wow, good for you," Nick looked towards the door hoping that the teacher would walk in and cut their conversation short. Pretty soon it was going to be hard for Nick to pretend that he cared. And hard for him to pretend that he didn't see through her little story as an attempt to impress him.

Luckily, Nick's prayers were answered and their teacher walked in and quickly began the lecture.

"They were nothing serious though," Selena whispered as Nick began to take notes, "So don't worry."

Nick definitely wasn't worried. He wondered how much longer it would take for Selena to realize that he wasn't interested in her like that. She still seemed to be taking their one date as a proposal even though they hadn't even discussed hanging out again.

In contrast to that, Nick hadn't talked to Miley since their date. He wondered if things would be different between them now. Would she talk to him at lunch? Did he even want her to? He wondered if she had told her friends. They hadn't discussed it. Would they giggle and point when they saw him? He might die of embarrassment if that happened. But part of him felt like him and Miley were on the same page… they both wanted to keep this thing that was blossoming between them a secret. It was like if they both protected it carefully, it could maybe grow into something more.

When class was over, Selena once again asked Nick if they were having lunch together and once again Nick agreed because he didn't have any other plans. Despite the fact that Nick tried to ditch Selena by saying he had to stop by his locker, she wasn't deterred and decided to accompany him.

"So did you hear that Jen was having a big party this weekend?" she asked him. Jen was one of Selena's friends who was in their year at school. Somehow Nick doubted that a freshman was having a big party, but he just shook his head as he put his books away.

"Yup, her parents are going out of town… are you going to go?"

"I'm not really sure what I'm doing this weekend yet," Nick said noncommittally while closing his locker and heading for the lunchroom.

"Well, maybe Joe could drive us?" she pushed him, "Maybe he'll even want to go. Jen is trying to find someone to provide alcohol."

Nick tried not to be offended that Selena thought his brother would go only if there was alcohol. And he tried not to roll his eyes at the idea of Joe even thinking about going to a freshman girl's party.

"I think Joe's going to be visiting some colleges this weekend," Nick lied, hoping she would back off when she realized Nick couldn't provide a ride.

"Oh well, if I can find a ride, I'll let you know," she said with a big smile on her face. Nick almost groaned as they walked into the large room and got in line to get their food.

Selena continued to rattle on about the dress she had that would be perfect and about different kinds of alcohol. He wondered if she thought that was impressive. For someone who spent a lot of time tearing down the popular people who partied, she sure seemed to want to be them.

As they were walking towards their usual table, they had to pass Miley's table. Nick couldn't help but stare at her flawless face as she laughed at something someone said to her. Just as he was about to pass right by her, she looked up and caught his eye. Her smile noticeably widened and she gave him a little wink.

Nick's heart began to race and even once the moment was over he kept picturing her smile in his head. She was happy to see him. He hadn't even said anything and she had smiled. Somehow this small accomplishment was enough to get him through another lunch with Selena

"So how was your weekend?" Miley asked with a grin when Nick walked into her room later that day.

She was lying in bed on her stomach with her notebook and book in front of her. Her legs were bent at a 90-degree angle and her bare feet were swinging back and forth in the air.

"Pretty good," Nick said with a grin of his own, heading for her desk so they could sit down and start working.

"Come over here," she said, curling her finger towards herself. Nick changed his path from the desk and stood in front of her on the bed.

"Closer," she said with a cute grin, "Closer…"

Nick leaned closer to her and Miley reached up and grabbed his shirt, fisting it to pull him closer. Once he was close enough, she pressed a kiss against his lips. He was surprised by her gesture although, he realized, he really shouldn't be. But unlike Selena, Nick wasn't sure what one date meant. It's not like she was his girlfriend. He didn't know what the rules and guidelines between them were.

"So are you ready to get studying?" Nick asked awkwardly, turning a little red and feeling a little flustered.

"Yeah, of course, take a seat," Miley said moving over and patting the spot next to her on the bed.

Nick turned redder at the idea of lying on her bed with her. It probably didn't mean anything though right? She probably just wanted to be more comfortable today. Although if she had wanted to be comfortable, she probably wouldn't have been wearing a miniskirt and a white tank top, but Nick didn't want to read into that because then his mind would start going down the gutter and he'd feel even more flustered.

Nick sat next to her on the bed and cracked open his own book, "Okay… logarithms…."

Miley listened carefully to his explanation and then completed a few practice problems.

"Okay, I think you've got it… start on the homework and let me know if you need help."

They quickly settled into their usual routine of Miley doing her work and Nick started on his own homework. They were both working quietly for a while when Miley spoke.

"Nick…" she said and he looked down at her. She batted her eyelashes and smiled.

He was about to say "yeah?" when she leaned up again pulled him down to kiss him. He kissed her back and her hand slid into his hair, holding their mouths together. She sat up in front of him and started leaning her weight against his body until he had no choice but to fall back against her pillows. Then her tongue slid into his mouth and soon they were making out.

Instead of feeling uncomfortable like Nick would have felt if someone had told him he would be in this situation, Nick felt… content. He loved the way she smelled and the way she felt so light on top of him and how her smooth skin brushed against his.

Miley slid one of her long legs in between one of Nick's and pressed her chest against him so that almost all space between them was gone. Nick ran his hand down her back and grabbed and handful of her taut butt, pulling it closer to him, creating a pleasing friction between them. He had no idea where his bravery came from, but he seemed to have some masculine instinct that was kicking in. His hands moved from her backside up her sides, pulling her tank top along with them. While Nick was attempting to get to second base, Miley moved her leg from between his to the other side so that she was straddling him. Suddenly with Miley pressed against him that way Nick was aware of how tight his jeans had become and he wasn't the only one to notice it.

"Oh!" Miley said in surprise when she felt him between her legs. To Nick's credit, Miley was blushing just as much as he was at the realization that he was hard.

"I- sorry," Miley said, rolling off of him while Nick grabbed one of her smaller throw pillows to place on his lap until he could calm himself down.

"No, I'm sorry," Nick was surprised he was even able to talk he was so embarrassed. They were barely even doing anything and there he was hard as a rock. Miley was probably used to getting with older, more experienced guys who could control themselves unlike Nick who was practically still at puberty's door with his inability to control his body's reactions.

"Do you—," Miley started, fumbling for the right words, "I mean, are you—have you ever had sex?"

For a moment Nick thought about lying. He already looked like an idiot, why make it worse? But at the same time, he didn't want to lie to Miley. The fact that she had asked him and not just assumed made him trust her not to make fun of him.

"No," Nick said and closed his eyes, not wanting to see her reaction. He suddenly felt hot breath against his ear.

"Me neither."

"What?" Nick exclaimed sitting up.

"I know," Miley groaned, covering her face in embarrassment, "It's stupid because it seems like everyone I know has done it, but… I guess I just haven't found the right person. Every time I've gotten close, it just didn't feel right. I mean, the first time should mean something at least, right?"

"I completely agree," Nick said quickly. He couldn't pretend that he wasn't surprised, but luckily she wasn't offended that he was. He had a feeling that she purposely made it seem like she had done it.

"I'm just waiting to find a guy who I feel comfortable enough with and who doesn't look at me like a prize."

Nick just nodded. This made sense to him. He had definitely been raised to respect girls and was taught that sex is something special.

"I think you could be him," Miley whispered, looking him straight in the eyes. Nick's heart clenched in his chest as her blue eyes started right into his brown ones. It was hard for him to even fully comprehend what she was saying.

Yes, they had been hooking up and yes, they flirted and danced around the idea of liking each other, implying it, but never really saying anything. But this idea from Miley, that Nick could be the one, was the first real indication that what was going on between them was something bigger than either of them had originally planned.

Instead of messing up the moment with words, Nick laid back next to her on the bed and wrapped an arm around her while her head found the perfect spot on his shoulder. Nothing needed to be said as they laid there and let the possibilities of what they could be surround them.

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**Oh Nick and Miley... will those crazy kids ever define what they are to each other? And what about Jake? And Miley's friends? And Jen's party? Will they do it? Stay tuned :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Switched it up and did this one through Miley's eyes. Don't think I'll be doing this too much, but I figured it would be nice to see her side. **

Miley tapped her feet on the dashboard of Jake's car to the beat of the song that was on the radio. Jake was driving, while Demi was in the backseat, tagging along for Miley's sake.

"This is so boring," Demi complained as Miley tugged down her tight dress so that less of her thigh was showing, "Can we please just find somewhere to go?"

It was around eight-thirty on a Saturday and the three of them were just driving around and seeing what was going on in their town. It was totally lame, but it seemed like nothing was going on this weekend. No one was having any huge parties and although going to a club could be fun, the drive was a little long into the city and it was too early to hit the club anyway.

Jake and Miley both ignored Demi who had been complaining since they got in the car. The boy in their class who was known for throwing ragers was recently busted with pot by his parents and was therefore grounded and no one else had a parental free house to offer up for the night.

Miley wondered what Nick would be doing now. Probably sitting at home, to be honest. She smiled thinking about him. He was honest, sweet and, although a little young, he seemed more mature than most guys she knew. She wished that he could hang out with her and her friends, but she knew that Nick was shy and not ready to be immersed in her group of crazy friends. Also, she wasn't sure if her friend would really understand him either. As Jake continued to drive aimlessly, Miley pulled out her cell phone and sent him a quick text to see what he was up to.

Seconds later, her phone buzzed with the message, "at Selena's friend Jen's house while her parents are out."

Miley smiled at the idea of an awkward freshman party. She had experienced one or two of them before she had hooked up with Justin, her ex boyfriend who was a senior when she was a freshman. But still she could imagine the awkward group of six or so kids, trying to pass off their small get together as a "party". Someone had probably stolen a half-empty bottle of vodka or rum from their parents and everyone would probably try a sip and pretend they were drunk. So lame.

But, Miley thought, it's not like driving around all dressed up with nowhere to go was much cooler. Then she thought of a great idea and sent Nick another message asking what street that Jen girl lived on. Maybe she and her friends could rock those little freshmen's' worlds.

"Demi, I need you to send out a mass text," Miley said when her phone buzzed again, "Parental free house on Oak Street, BYOB."

Jake turned and looked at her confused, but she just smiled while Demi did as she was told. Demi knew everyone and anyone and could text up to 60 people at once. Plus, she had notoriety of being Miley's friend and being popular herself so chances are everyone would go where she said to go.

"Done," Demi said when the task was finished.

"Okay, new plan," Miley said with a grin, "Jake, we're going to stop by the liquor store and use your fake ID, then we're going to check out this party."

Jake raised an eyebrow at her, but knew he had no reason to doubt her. Where Miley Stewart went, fun followed.

By the time the three of them made it to the big white house on Oak Street, there were already at least twenty cars parked along the road. It wasn't hard to tell which house it was because the music was pumping and people had also spilled out onto the front lawn.

"Hey, Miley, looking hot!" Taylor, a thin blonde Junior who was also on the cheerleading squad, said as Miley exited the car. She pulled down her mini dress and smiled at Taylor who was sitting outside with what looked like Nick's brother, Joe. They seemed to be getting pretty cozy.

Demi got out of the backseat and saw the couple sitting on the lawn and made a face that only Miley could see. Although it was no real secret that Demi thought Taylor was a ditzy blonde.

"You're not looking too bad either, Demi," Joe said, checking her out. She gave him a small wink before Jake came up to the group and put the arm that wasn't carrying the handle of vodka around Miley. Miley was aware of the way Joe's eyes continued to linger on Demi. That could be interesting, Miley thought.

"Shall we go in?" Jake asked and Miley nodded before subtly shrugging his arm off of her. She understood that the idea of them being together was important to Jake, but sometimes she wished that he would lay of the PDA. Although it probably didn't help that most of the time when she got drunk she tended to make out with him publically.

They walked into the fairly large house to see the party already in full swing. Two junior girls, who could only be described as desperate, were dancing on the living room table sans shirts. A movie was playing on mute on the big TV and there were people standing around or dancing almost everywhere you looked.

Although all the usual people were there, the cheerleaders, the football players and other jocks, Miley was only looking for one guy. She broke off from Jake who had found one of his football buddies and Demi, who was already surrounded by guys who wanted to get her a drink.

She headed into the kitchen to see a granite island covered in plastic cups and various forms of alcohol. There were cases of beer, half empty vodka and tequila bottles as well as mixers like coke or cranberry juice. She even heard someone mention that there was a keg out back. Her people had done good at such late notice, even she was impressed.

Although there were a lot of people in there with the alcohol, the person she was looking for was not so she moved onto the next room.

She almost laughed out loud when she saw him. He was standing almost absolutely still while a girl with dark hair and an awkward length dress tried to dance with him. Her arms were wrapped around him and she was going up and down it a way that she obviously though was sexy, but was too jerky to look right. Miley realized that this must have been Selena.

"Selena, I think you should go lie down," she heard Nick say as she got closer to them.

"Only if you come with me," Selena slurred and held onto him tighter so she wouldn't fall over. Her dance moves were completely off rhythm and her seduction technique didn't seem to be working on Nick who still just stood there uncomfortably.

"Need a hand?" Miley asked as she approached them. Miley definitely had experience with drunk girls, whether it was herself or her friends. Selena didn't even seem to notice her as she continued to "dance". Nick however definitely noticed her and his eyes widened at the short clinging dress she had on.

"She's drunk and I don't want to leave her alone," Nick explained over the music and Miley was touched by his chivalry. Not many boys would care that much. In fact, a lot would probably try to take advantage of her.

"Is there a bedroom where we can bring her or something?" Miley asked and Nick nodded.

"She's sleeping over in the guestroom."

Miley surveyed the room, which was almost empty except for a couple making out on the couch and another guy who looked stoned out of his mind. In the corner she saw a back staircase. Perfect.

"Follow me," Miley said as she walked towards the staircase.

"Where are we going, Nicky?" Selena asked as Nick supported her with one arm behind his back.

"Taking you to bed," Nick said and she giggled and stumbled up the stairs. Miley lead the way until she found the room that she assumed was Selena's because it had minimal furnishings as a guestroom would and also an overnight bag on the bed.

"Just lay her down," Miley said, "I'm going to get her some water."

Miley went into the adjoining bathroom and found a cup in one of the cabinets along with aspirin. She filled the cup up and brought one pill out to leave on her bedside table for when she woke up in the morning. It was something she and her friends always did for each other after a rough night. It didn't necessarily help, but the idea of someone taking care of you was comforting.

"Here, drink," Miley said handing Selena who was sitting on the bed the cup of water.

"Why? Who are you?" Selena asked, "Nick, I don't think I'm comfortable with a threesome."

Miley stifled a laugh while Nick looked horrified.

"It's more alcohol, it tastes really good," Miley lied and finally Selena took the cup and drank it.

"It's so hot," Selena said when she was done, giving Miley back the cup.

"Fill this up, please?" Miley asked Nick giving him the cup and he quickly went for the bathroom.

"I know," Miley said to Selena, "Maybe we should take your shoes off, that should help."

"Good idea! You are pretty smart," Selena said, letting Miley help her take her shoes off. For a moment, Miley debated helping her put pajamas on, but that seemed a little too personal for someone she didn't know. Instead, Miley lifted her feet and put them on the bed so that she was lying down.

"Time to go to sleep," Miley said soothingly, pulling the comforter over her and then sitting down. Once she was lying down, Selena seemed more subdued. Miley ran a hand through the girl's long dark hair, humming comfortingly to her until her breathing became even.

Miley got up and turned around to see Nick standing there with the water in his hand.

"Just put it next to the bed, trust me, she's going to want it when she wakes up," she whispered. Nick followed her instructions.

"Thank you so much… I had no idea what to do," Nick confessed and then moved closer to embrace her. Miley looked over at Selena and Nick got the hint and stopped. Instead she grabbed his hand and led him out the door, making sure to lock it so that no one could come in and harm the sleeping girl.

Then Miley opened the door across the hall and flicked the light on. It was unoccupied and looked like it was the master suite in the house with a huge bed. This didn't throw her off like it would some people. Instead she pulled Nick in and closed the door, once again locking it behind them.

"Hi," she said quietly, turning to face him.

"Hello," he said back. There was an awkward moment of silence before both of them burst out laughing.

"I'm guessing Selena was having a good time," Miley joked and Nick shook his head.

"It got out of the control so fast. One minute, Selena and Jen are giggling about playing spin the bottle with the six people who showed up and the next the house is flooded with people and everyone is drunk."

"Well, thanks, I do think I did a pretty good job," Miley said, crossing her arms and smirking.

"You invited all these people?" Nick said incredulously.

She bit her lip and looked at him worriedly.

"Was that bad? I figured with so many people here, we could hang out without anyone noticing. I wanted to see you."

Miley loved how flattered he looked. She wouldn't admit something like that to just any guy. Some boys would take that kind of thing for granted and use it against her, but she knew Nick wouldn't. He would be surprised that she liked him so much, which in fact was one of the reasons she liked him so much.

While Nick was blushing, Miley went over to the light switch and dimmed the lights so that it was almost dark. The music was so loud downstairs that it could be heard from where they were.

"Dance with me," Miley said, putting her hands in the air and moving her hips as she walked towards him seductively.

"I—I don't-" Nick stuttered awkwardly which Miley ignored. She danced up to him and grabbed his hands placing them on her hips. She kept her hands over his and continued to move her hips.

"Now you move," she whispered and moved her hands from her hips to his, coaxing him into a smooth movement, "Yeah, just like that. Move fluidly, not choppy. Just match my movements."

Nick looked so cute concentrating and looking down at himself to make sure he was doing it right. And he didn't even try to get all over her right away.

So she took the step for him and danced up close to him so that their bodies were pressed together. She wrapped her arms around her neck even though she was slightly taller than him in her heels.

Once he had the movement down, Miley grabbed his chin and brought his mouth to hers, furiously kissing him. She loved how surprised he seemed every single time and how he hesitated for a moment before giving in. He never expected anything, which took the pressure off Miley.

She opened her eyes for a second before moving them in the direction of the bed while keeping their lips moving against each other. When they reached the bed, she pulled away and climbed up on the big king sized bed and lay back on the pillows.

"Come here," she said in what was meant to be a seductive tone and Nick followed her command and climbed up on the bed too. A thrill ran through Miley as he crawled over to her, hovering a top her.

She reached up to his face and pulled his glasses off, folding them up and putting them on the bedside table. Then she slid her hand behind his head and into his hair to pull his mouth back down to his. It excited her to have him on top of her for once even though she had to coax him gently to move himself closer to her. But soon they were pressed against each other with their tongues twisting together.

Although Miley liked Nick's slightly dominate position, it didn't take her long before she rolled them over so that she was on top. She pulled away from his mouth and trailed her lips across his jaw line, rolling off him slightly to reach his pulse point. His body flinched slightly as she nipped at it and then soothed it with a flick of her tongue. His heart beat rapidly against her tongue, encouraging her to continue to kiss and suck gently on his neck. Her own pulse increased as she felt his hand skimming along the back of her bare thigh and then up her side, landing on her chest.

"Mmm," she murmured against his neck to let him know what he was doing was definitely okay. His caresses were tentative, but they made Miley feel safe and in control of the situation which she really liked. Miley liked to make out as much as the next girl, in fact she considered herself particularly good at it, but she hated it when the guy got too aggressive and she had to worry that he might take it too far.

A small groan escaped Nick's mouth and Miley herself wanted to groan at how sexy it sounded. She detached her lips from his neck, smirking at the red blotch that was already forming, and then looked at his face to see what his reaction to the situation was.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to… it just… came out," he said blushing.

"No, I liked it," Miley assured him and then ran her hands down his chest to the hem of his T-shirt. She began to pull it up, reveling his taut, but not too defined stomach. Somehow she liked it more than even the rock hard abs of the boys on the basketball team. She kept raising it up until it was under his arms and he held them up so she could pull it over his head.

"Miley?" Nick asked as the material was freed from his face.

"Yeah?" she responded, running her fingers across his stomach and feeling them spasm against her touch.

"Do you like me?"

Miley cocked her head and looked at him confused. She wasn't really sure what he meant.

"I mean—" he stuttered, "Do you like me in a more than friends way?"

* * *

**yeah, i did just end it there. you're probably wondering how Nick wound up at the party... but it will be explained, promise. hope you enjoyed it!**


	9. Chapter 9

"Nick!"

Nick saw a flash of a hand in front of his face and he was snapped back into real life.

"What?"

"Class has been over for like 5 minutes and you've just been staring blankly," Selena informed him, "What's on your mind?"

Nick blushed. He had been thinking back to the weekend and the party at Jen's house. Specifically, he had been thinking about Miley.

"Nothing, just tired from this weekend," he lied, gathering his things up from his desk.

"Oh. So, we're having lunch together, right?"

"Yep," Nick said, beginning his walk down the hallway, not bothering to wait for Selena. He knew she would pick up her pace anyway to catch up with him.

"Good," she said, hiking her backpack up, "Because I kind of wanted to talk to you about something."

Nick swallowed. It was too late to back out now, but he had a feeling he knew what she wanted to talk about.

When they were both settled down at their table Selena began to talk.

"So, I wanted to talk about this weekend," she started, while Nick just sat in silence and began to eat, "I know that I was pretty drunk and I don't remember much after dancing with you. So I just wanted to know... Did something happen between us?"

Nick swallowed his sandwich noisily.

"Nope," he said honestly, "Nothing happened between us. You were getting tired so I brought you upstairs."

He figured it would be better to just leave Miley out of this. He doubted even Miley helping her would change Selena's opinion. Besides that would mean he'd have to explain why Miley was helping him in the first place and he just didn't want to go there.

"Oh, okay... Good," Selena said. But Nick could tell she was slightly disappointed. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Well, it was so sweet of you to take care of me," she said, her voice raising a little louder as a group of freshman girls walked by.

"Yep, I'd do it for anyone," Nick said. If the girl didn't get the hint after that, he didn't know what it would take other than him straight out saying he wasn't interested.

Even the ever-talkative Selena couldn't find a response for that one so they dug into their food in silence.

Nick's phone vibrated in his pocket and his heart began to race. He never got messages during school. In fact, normally he was the kind of kid who turned his phone off and actually put it in his locker, like the rules said you were supposed to do. But that morning he had been running late for his first class and he had forgotten. He never had to worry about getting texts during school hours so he hadn't been that concerned.

He nervously slipped his phone out; even though most kids had them blatantly out on the table at lunch.

**Miley**

**hey, meet me outside the back entrance to the locker rooms in five**

His eyes glanced over at Miley. She made no indication that she was looking at him, but the message on his phone was proof that she wanted to see him.

"Crap!" he said, a little too loudly, startling Selena, "I completely forgot I have to return this library book before the end of the period or I have to pay a fine!"

It was the best lie he could come up with on short notice and, for someone who hardly ever deceived people, he thought it was a pretty good one.

Without really waiting for a response from Selena, Nick got up and threw his stuff out before heading for the locker rooms. He noticed that Miley was still sitting there nonchalantly, but it had only been about a minute since he got her message.

Nick's hands began to sweat as he waited for Miley in the back part of the locker rooms. It was actually a small hallway that opened up to the main gym, but it was only really used during basketball games for the team to have pep talks between periods. In other words, it was deserted during school hours.

Just when Nick was about to give up on her showing up, she walked out of the girl's room door.

"Hey," she said, coming close to him and pecking him on the lips. The acceleration of his heart was not helped by the fact that this was happening in school.

"Hi," he said stupidly.

"So," she said, "I was wondering if we could cancel tutoring today..."

Nick tried to hide his disappointment, "Oh yeah, of course, if you have other plans..."

"Actually," Miley continued, biting her lip as if she was nervous, "My parents are out of town for the next few days and I was wondering if you wanted to come over later... you know, not as my tutor."

Nick really began to sweat when he realized what she was asking. Her place, no parents, no studying... It wasn't hard to pick up on what she was implying.

"But if you don't want to or if you're busy that's totally okay!" she said quickly, her cheeks turning slightly pink at the idea of being rejected.

"No, I'd like to!" Nick insisted, "I just have to make sure my family knows that I'll be out."

"Really?" Miley said, standing up straighter and smiling widely, "So you'll come?"

"Yeah, sure," Nick tried to be casual, "What time do you want me?"

"How about six?" she said, "We can eat dinner or something."

Nick doubted he would be able to eat anything, but he agreed and confirmed with her right as the bell for the period was going off.

"Yeah, she has this pretty big test tomorrow, so we'll probably be studying pretty late… it's worth like 20% of her grade," Nick lied to his mom as soon as he got home, "Her mom's already expecting me to stay for dinner. We have a lot of work to do, Miley still doesn't really fully understand how the graphs work, plus whoever taught her the orders of operation was definitely not qualified to be a math teacher."

Nick knew he should stop. Wasn't that how criminals got caught? They added too many details and then can't get their stories straight. But this was the first time Nick had lied to his mother's face about something important and he couldn't help but feel extremely guilty and nervous which caused him to word vomit.

"Okay," his sweet, unassuming mom said, "But if you're going to be back past dark, I'd really prefer you ask Miley or one of her parents for a ride home instead of you riding your bike at night."

There he was lying to his mom's face about losing his virginity and the only thing his mom was concerned about was him riding his bike in the dark. It was almost enough to make him feel guilty enough not to go. Almost.

Once he was done with his mom, he emptied out his backpack of his books and shoved them under his bed. In their place, he threw in a clean t-shirt and some deodorant and body spray since he knew he wouldn't be smelling so sweet after biking over there.

He left his house on his bike and headed for the drugstore. He walked in and tried to casually look up at the signs that displayed what was in each aisle. Unfortunately, it didn't come off as so casual.

"Hi, can I help you find something?" an older female employee asked him.

For a moment he considered asking, but the woman looked so nice, he felt like she would judge him or something. Not that it mattered, but he wanted to involve as few people in his as possible. So he politely declined and continued reading the aisles. Then he saw the right one, Contraceptives.

He was relieved to see that no one was in the aisle, especially when he saw the wide assortment of condoms available. He didn't know what size he was and he didn't know which brand to buy. Or even which type to buy. Her pleasure? Ribbed? Extra sensitive? Flavored?

He eventually settled on the brand that seemed to have the most missing from the shelf because he figured that meant they were the most popular and therefore the best.

He brought them up to the counter and added a soda and a pack of gum for good measure.

"Nick?"

Nick whipped his head around in shock to see Selena standing there. The thought crossed his mind that she was stalking him, but he quickly shook that away because even though she was kind of obsessed with him, he was pretty sure she wasn't that crazy.

"Hey!" she said when she saw his face, "I thought that was you standing there. Shouldn't you be at tutoring?"

Nick gulped nervously and shifted himself so she couldn't see the counter as he was being rung up.

"Um yeah," he stuttered, "I'm heading over there after this. Um, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just with my mom, picking up some prescriptions."

"7.58," the guy ringing Nick up said and he turned around relieved to find that he had put the items in a bag. Nick handed over the money.

"So," Selena continued as Nick waited for his change, "I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner to thank you for taking care of me the other night."

"Um," Nick said collecting his change and bag, making sure that Selena couldn't see through it, "It's really fine… you don't have to do that."

"But I _want_ to," she said eagerly, "My mom and I could pick you up from Miley's when you're done…"

Nick began to panic. Why couldn't she just take the hint that he didn't want to? And why couldn't he just tell her?

"Um, listen, Selena… you're a great girl, but I just don't think I like you the way you like me and I don't want to lead you on…" he explained looking down at the floor.

When he finally worked up the courage to look at her she looked like he had slapped her in the face. It was even bright red as if she had been struck. He winced inwardly.

Then she looked him straight in the eyes.

"Then why'd you take me out on a date?" she asked angrily, "Or eat lunch with me every day? You know, I might not be the prettiest or most popular girl out there, but I really did like you, Nick. Good luck getting a girl as good as me."

With that she spun around on her heel and stomped away. Nick's heart raced with the adrenaline pumping through his veins. It seemed like today was going to be a lot of firsts for him. Lying to his mom, telling a girl he wasn't interested, and having sex.

Nick biked slowly to Miley's house. Partly because he knew he was going to be early and partly because he didn't want to be too gross when he showed up. Luckily, the air was starting to cool off and there was a nice breeze so he wasn't dripping sweat.

When he got to her house he looked around and then quickly pulled off his old t-shirt and put on the one he had in his bag then putting on deodorant and spraying himself lightly. He ran a hand through his hair and then rang the doorbell.

"Hey there," she said when she opened the door.

He stared at her in awe. She had on a little red dress, if it could even be called a dress, with tiny little straps and a skirt that flared slightly around her thighs. The top wasn't that low cut, but her high cleavage made it seem as if it was. Her hair was straightened pulled to one side so that it fell down her left shoulder. As he checked her out he realized she wasn't wearing shoes and for some reason it struck him as really cute, even though that should have been the last thing on his mind.

"Hi," he said back and he suddenly thought that he should have brought her flowers or chocolate or something.

"You can come in," she said giggling and moving out of the way. Once the door was closed she leaned in and gave him a hug.

"You smell nice," she told him running the tip of her nose against his throat.

"Thanks," he said, his voice coming out hoarse. It was weird how formal it felt like they were being. She turned around to head up the steps. Nick assumed he was supposed to follow so he did.

When they reached her room, the lights were dimmed and Miley had a few candles lit too. There was a blanket on the floor and two bowls, two plastic cups, and a box of wine.

"Okay, I know it's cheesy," Miley said turning around and biting her lip, "But I just felt like doing something special."

"Nah, I like it," Nick said putting his backpack down, "Did you cook?"

"Mac and cheese," she said with a nervous laugh, running her hand through her hair, "It's the only thing I can make. And I don't know if you drink, but, um, I have some wine, but if you'd rather have something else I can get you a water or a soda or something…"

"No, wine is perfect," he said, going to sit down and she followed his lead, tucking her legs to the side. It made him feel slightly better that she seemed nervous too.

They talked a little while they ate and Nick only sipped a little on his wine because he wasn't really a drinker and he didn't know what kind of effect it would have on him. Miley, however, had three generously poured cups. Halfway through eating, she leaned over and put her hand behind his neck, pulling her face to his so she could kiss his lips.

She continued to tug at his neck so that he was forced to fall on top of her on the floor. Only then did she pull her mouth away and giggle. He smile at her playfulness. Then he dipped his head down to capture her mouth into another kiss, this time with open lips and twisting tongues.

After a few moments of just making out, Nick moved his hand to her bare knee and stroked it gently, surprised by his own boldness. He vaguely wondered if it was really him or if even his few sips of wine had gone to his head. When she didn't say anything about his hand on her knee, he began to trail his fingers up her smooth thigh. He could feel the hem of her dress on the back of his hand when she suddenly pushed herself off of him and sprung up, heading for her bathroom.

It took him a moment to register what had happened, but when he heard her retching coming from the open bathroom door, he too sprung up and went after her.

Something in his heart pulled as he saw her on her knees in front of the toilet. Normally, he would have been disgusted, but instead, he kneeled next to her and ran his fingers through her hair pulling it back and holding it.

"Just go away," she cried, before emptying the contents of her stomach into the bowl. Nick closed his eyes, but he dutifully sat by her and held her hair until she was done.

When she got up, her face was flushed and she headed right for her sink, grabbing her toothbrush and avoiding Nick's gaze.

When she was done rinsing out her mouth, she turned around to face him.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," he said even though it really wasn't.

"I'm really embarrassed," she admitted with a shaky laugh as a few tears dripped down her face, "It wasn't really supposed to go like this.

"I wanted to impress you," she continued her confession, "but I guess that went down the toilet along with my pride… the shot of vodka for courage before you came over was definitely a mistake."

He must have been looking at her in shock or something because she continued on defensively.

"I was nervous, okay?" she said, "There's a lot of pressure on me. I have to make this memorable for you. I don't want you to forget me."

Nick wondered if she was still drunk even after throwing up. There was a lot of pressure on _her? _How about on _him? _She had freely admitted that this was important to her and she wanted it to mean something the first time and he had to live up to her expectations of him being special enough to do it with.

"Maybe you should lay down," he suggested, pulling her back into her bedroom and helping her into bed. He kicked off his shoes and laid down next to her, on top of her comforter.

He looked at her, her face was kind of blotchy and red and she had mascara tracks running down her cheeks to her chin, but somehow she still seemed as beautiful to him as the first time he had blurted out to her that he thought she was.

"Sorry," she said again, "I know you were probably excited, but right now I'm just not in the mood…"

"Honestly, after seeing you throw up, I can't say I'm really in the mood either."

Her mouth opened in shock until she realized he was teasing her and she punched him lightly on the arm.

"Jerk."

He just smiled at her and pushed some of her hair off her face.

"I should probably get home…" Nick said sadly, not really wanting to leave her, but knowing that he should start now before it was dark. He figured she wouldn't really be up for driving and since he wasn't really sure if she was sober or not he didn't really want to ask anyway.

She nodded, "Text me when you get home?"

"Of course," he said, putting his shoes on, grabbing his bag, and heading for the door. Before he left though, he took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to say something more to her.

"For the record, Miley, I don't think I could ever forget you."

* * *

**Oh Miley. Oh Nick. I was going to have them do it this chapter, but I decided to extend it out just a little longer. But it will be soon. Believe it or not, them doing it isn't really the main action in the story. There will be some drama coming up. Also, I'm just going to let you know now that the sex scene isn't going to be like some hot sexy moment. It's going to be realistically awkward and uncomfortable haha so just prepare yourselves for that.**

Oh, and on a side note, the NJK awards are open again, so don't forget to nominate your favorite stories. http:/ njkawards .webs . com/


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Nick was surprised that the seat next to him in Chemistry was empty.

A part of him was glad because the idea of facing Selena after their awkward encounter yesterday wasn't one he looked forward to. Sure, he had been honest, but she seemed pissed. Another part of him was worried that she wasn't in school because he had hurt her feelings so badly. He didn't want to be that guy either. His gut twisted at the idea of hurting someone like that.

Without Selena there to distract him with her constant chatter, his mind wandered to something else that made his stomach churn, although in a different way. Miley. He wondered what it would be like when he saw her at lunch. Would she acknowledge him? Or would she pretend last night hadn't happened? That she hadn't dressed up and lit candles for them before things went south. Maybe he had lost his chance with her. His first shot was probably a fluke anyway. Maybe this was the way it was supposed to be.

Needless to say, Chemistry went by very slowly.

The anticipation was for nothing though, because he didn't see Miley at lunch. He didn't see her when he walked in and she didn't walk in the door while Nick ate. When he was throwing out his trash, he overheard her dark haired friend, Demi, saying that Miley was feeling sick today.

So there were two girls he had messed up with so badly that they didn't even want to come to school. Great.

The rest of the day went by just as slowly as Chem did. Somewhere between the second-to-last and last class, Nick decided to go see Miley after school. Technically he was supposed to go over and tutor her anyway.

Standing at her doorstep, he felt almost as nervous as he did the first time. At the first ring there was no response, but her car was in the driveway so he knew she must be home so he pushed it again.

"One second!" he heard her call before there was a thundering of footsteps down the stairs and the door was opened.

There she stood, wearing a pair of cheer shorts and a tank top with no makeup on.

"Oh!" she said in surprise, patting her wavy hair as if making sure it looked okay. It was a mess, but Nick didn't mind.

"I know you weren't in school today so I thought I'd come by to make sure you were okay," Nick explained to the confused girl.

"Oh, well, I'm fine," Miley said with a smile, "Thanks for coming."

"Can I come in?"

Miley looked surprised by his boldness. He was surprised himself.

"Um, yeah, sure, I guess."

Nick decided to pretend that she sounded more enthusiastic than she did and made his way into the foyer.

She stood there, shifting from foot to foot, not saying anything. Nick was kind of hoping she would do the talking like she normally did, but since she didn't, he got the courage to speak up.

"Things aren't going to be weird now, right? Because of last night… If I did something wrong…" he trailed off, hoping she would pick up.

Miley took the bait. "No, it's not… it's not what you did. I'm just so… embarrassed by what I did. You're a good guy, Nick, and I can't imagine what you think of me now. I swear I'm not just some trashy high school cheerleader."

"I know that," Nick assured her, "You were just nervous last night."

She sighed and looked visibly relieved. Nick loved how cute she looked, all natural and beautiful. She was hot, no doubt and she could easily pass for older than she was, but at this moment, she looked like a teenage girl and Nick loved it. Somehow he liked it even more than he liked her dressing up for him last night. It felt right. Which was why he did what he did next.

He reached out and grabbed her waist, pulling her close to him possessively and made the first move to kiss her. She was surprised at first as Nick used his tongue to part her lips, but she quickly got into their kiss. It wasn't what he had come over for, but he couldn't pretend he didn't like it. The kiss grew more and more passionate as Miley fisted his shirt and began to pull him up the stairs.

Nick tried not to break the kiss, but when they were almost at the top, his foot missed a step causing him to fall, bringing Miley with him.

Her head hit the top step and his chin banged against her knee.

"Shit!" she said. Nick cursed himself internally. He was so not smooth and he looked up at her sheepishly. For a moment her face was still, but then suddenly she erupted into laughter. Nick turned red. God, he was a klutz.

"Oh, my God," she said through her laughter, "I can't believe we just did that."

He smiled at her use of the word we. Apparently she wasn't going to blame him for being uncoordinated. Soon he was laughing as well, the two of them laying across her staircase, just cracking up together.

Miley stopped laughing first with a happy sigh and Nick quieted himself too. Suddenly the air between them felt still and unbearably hot.

She leaned down and pressed her lips against his gently.

"Come on," she said softly, lifting herself up and heading for her bedroom. Nick hoisted himself up and went after her.

When he walked in the room, she was closing the curtains, dimming her room from the bright sunshine outside.

"Close the door," she said in a hushed tone that made his stomach drop.

He smiled and did as she said. She approached him slowly, reaching her hands up to his collar, unbuttoning the top button and then the next one. Soon he was pulling his shirt off and leaving it on the floor.

Then she reached forward and attached her lips to his, giggling as his hand grazed the ticklish part of her waist. He grabbed the hem of her tank top into his hands, using it to pull her close. Then he slid the material up her sides and over her head.

A jolt of electricity shot through his body as their bare stomachs touched and her felt her body shiver his arms too.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Nick asked her as they began to move towards her bed.

She nodded, kissing him again as they fell onto the mattress. Her hands began to wander down his back and then around to the front, brushing her hand over his crotch, palming it gently. Nick groaned and moved his hips against her hand to create more of the pleasing friction.

"Is this right?" Miley said suddenly pulling away from their kiss, "I mean, is this good? Do you like it?"

Nick nodded, seeing as he was speechless. No one had done this for him before and the fact that a gorgeous girl was doing it definitely made it even better.

"Um, should I…?" she trailed off, putting her hand on the button of his pants.

"No, uh, I'll do it," he said, fumbling with the button and the zipper. Once they were undone, he kicked his shoes off the edge of the bed and then his pants.

When he looked back up at her, her bra was laying on the bed next to her and his mouth opened in shock.

She giggled at his reaction and grabbed the base of his neck, kissing him forcefully. It wasn't long until they were completely naked and he was on top. She was kissing his neck and he was hard as rock when she suddenly pulled away.

"You're not going to hurt me, right Nick?" she asked, stroking his face gently. It took him a minute to reach reality, but once he did, he saw a young pretty vulnerable girl underneath him, and suddenly she wasn't "Sexy Stewart" or the girl all the guys wanted, or the captain of the cheerleading team. She was just Miley, the girl who played guitar, and wore sweatpants, and who was slowly helping Nick break out of his shell.

"I won't hurt you," he promised, giving her a reassuring kiss. It amazed him how the roles had switched and suddenly he was the one in control.

She reached over to her bedside table drawer and pulled out a box of condoms. Nick's heart started beating even faster. She fumbled with the tape holding the box closed until finally getting it open and tearing one of the foil packages.

It was really happening.

She reached down, rolling it softly over him. It felt strange, not too tight, but not exactly natural either. He didn't have much time to think about it though because once she was done putting it on she gripped him tightly and guided him between her legs.

The rest was history. She winced a little at first, but he didn't seem to be hurting her. After a few thrusts she even seemed to enjoy it. It didn't last long, but when Nick came, he was still out of breath.

After giving him a moment of recovery, Miley leaned over to where he laid next to him and placed a soft delicate kiss on his lips.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"For what?" he asked confused, he was pretty sure she didn't come.

"For giving me the first time I've always wanted," she explained, "No pressure. Not like last night. Just… simple. But sweet."

Nick inflated with pride, knowing that he had done a good job. It wasn't like the movies and definitely not like a porno, but he had gotten Miley's approval and that's what mattered.

He got up and discarded the used condom, then slipped his boxers back on.

"Hey," Nick said as he sat back down on the bed, "Would you do something for me?"

Her eyes flitted up an down his body and he grinned.

"Not _that _kind of something," he teased her, making her blush, "Could you play me something on the guitar?"

She considered his request and got up to pull on her tank top and panties, which were on her way to her acoustic. She picked it up and brought it back to the bed, sitting cross-legged and putting it on her lap. He sat up too so that he was across from her.

She closed her eyes strumming the guitar and, after a few chords, she began to sing.

"_There's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna want to make it move."_

Nick watched as she poured her heart out through her mouth and was transfixed.

_I love Miley._

The thought crossed his mind quickly, but once he realized it, he backtracked. Did he really love her? He thought she was beautiful, she was nice, and even though she sucked at math she was an intelligent person. She was compassionate and even though she was "popular" she knew there was more than that somewhere out there. What wasn't there to love?

"_Ain't about how fast I get there, ain't about what's waiting on the other side, it's the climb."_

Abruptly Miley stopped playing and looked down. "I haven't completely finished it, but that's the one you saw in my notebook, remember?"

Nick nodded, "It sounds even better when you sing it… that was amazing. Wow… Miley, I—"

"Miles?"

Miley jumped up when she heard her dad's voice calling up the stairs as did Nick.

"We're home, are you here? We brought home dinner."

"Yeah, I'm upstairs studying with Nick!" she yelled back while mouthing for Nick to get dressed.

Hearting racing because of what he was about to tell her and because they got caught, Nick pulled on his jeans and shirt and quickly buttoned it. He looked over and saw Miley had pulled on sweats.

Just as Nick finished tucking in his shirt, the door opened and Miley's parents stood there.

"Hi!" Miley said eagerly, hugging both of her parents, "How was your trip?"

"So relaxing," her mom gushed while her father nodded, "So what were you kids up to?"

Miley turned around to wink at Nick and he tried not to grin guiltily.

"Oh, you know, just studying," Miley said innocently, "Gotta keep up those grades."

"That's my girl," her dad said, putting an arm around her.

"Dad, this is Nick," Miley said suddenly, realizing that Nick had never met her father.

Nick walked forward and held out his hand, "Nice to meet you, sir."

Mr. Stewart raised an eyebrow and for a moment Nick panicked, thinking he had done something wrong and had somehow gotten on the bad side of dad of the girl he had just realized he loved. However, Mr. Stewart then burst into laughter and accepted his handshake warmly.

"Don't call me sir, it makes me sound old," he chuckled, "I'm a cool dad, right Miles?"

Miley rolled her eyes and shook her head, making everyone in the room chuckle. Nick immediately felt at ease with them.

"Are you staying for dinner, Nick?" Mrs. Stewart asked, "We picked up KFC on the way home. Fried Chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy."

Everyone looked at him expectantly with eager looks on their faces. Miley smiled at him and nodded her head slightly to let him know it was okay with her if he stayed.

"Thanks, I'd love to," he said as Miley's dad patted him on the shoulder and lead the group downstairs.

* * *

**Nick and Miley getting frisky ;) Hmm yeah so it's been a while, sorry. Also, I'm definitely going to do all the writing challenge stuff tomorrow... sorry it's taken me so long. I just keep getting distracted. Review please... I used to be obsessed with counting my reviews and stuff, but I haven't really been recently. But I looked the other day and it amazes me how much you guys review, especially in comparison to other stories. JLAD is close to 1000 already. It's insane. Love you guys. **


	11. Chapter 11

**An Easter surprise for my lovely readers...**

Nick was walking to Pre-Calc the next morning when he felt a soft cool hand on his arm. When he turned around he was surprised to see Selena standing there.

"Can we talk?" she asked quietly, shuffling her feet. Nick nodded and the moved aside so that they were out of the way of the hallway traffic.

"I thought a lot about what happened the other day," Selena admitted with a sigh, "And, yes, I was pissed because I thought you liked me. But then I started thinking about it more and I realized that you _didn't_ like me. Which also hurt. But, I'm sorry. I just get too intense and caught up in my little fantasies and then suddenly they feel like reality and I—I'm rambling. Sorry."

"No, it's okay," Nick told her, "I'm sorry that you felt like I was leading you on. And that I was so harsh about it."

"You weren't… you were way more patient and kind than I would have been," she said shaking her head, "But I appreciate it. But I guess what I wanted to say was that I understand that you don't like me. And I'm okay with it. And I hope we can be friends."

Nick was surprised that she admitted she was wrong. But he was happy, he wasn't the kind of guy who wanted to have any enemies. He knew Selena couldn't be that bad deep down. And who knew? Maybe when she wasn't trying so hard to impress him, she was a cool girl.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Nick said genuinely.

"So we're still on for lunch, right?"

"Have I ever said no before?" he joked.

"No," she said with a laugh, "So I'll see you later then."

The bell rang and everyone in the hallway started moving faster.

"Yeah, definitely," Nick agreed as they parted ways.

Nick couldn't keep the smile off his face as he walked into class. He was definitely getting some strange looks from his classmates, but he didn't care. He had fixed things up with Selena, who didn't hate him, and last night he not only slept with Miley, but then had a great time with her family. Her parents were hilarious and friendly and open and they had immediately accepted Nick. Things were perfect.

After Chemistry, Nick practically ran out of the classroom. It would be his first glance at Miley since she drove him home last night. He wondered if she would look different now that they had done it. He couldn't wait to see.

He didn't have to wait though, because standing just a few feet from the classroom was Miley.

"Hi," she said with a smile, approaching him immediately.

"Hey," he grinned helplessly. He couldn't even help it, he just wanted to smile around her. "Do you need something?"

She looked at him nervously and then opened her mouth to speak.

"Do you want to meet my friends?" she said quickly, so fast that he almost couldn't make it out, "You don't have to if you don't want to, but I just thought you'd like to meet them and I know they'll want to meet you."

Nick was shocked. He had thought that this thing between them, whatever it was, was supposed to be a secret. But now she wanted to introduce him to her friends. It excited him to know that she liked him enough to be seen in public with him. He knew their situation wasn't normal, that senior girls didn't date freshman guys, and that people would gossip about them. But that didn't seem to bother her, which made him feel braver too. Which was why he agreed.

They walked in the cafeteria together. They weren't holding hands or giggling, but just them being together was shocking enough for people. Nick distinctly heard several people asking who he was and why he was with Miley. He also heard someone say that maybe he was her cousin from Tennessee. Gross. But he tried not to let it bother him.

She chatted about her friends, giving him a little background info, as they got their standard school lunches. Nick was well aware of all the eyes on him. He wondered if it was like this for Miley all the time. The whispers only got louder as she led him over to her table and he put down his tray.

"Hey guys," Miley said brightly, swinging her leg over the bench to sit down, "This is Nick."

Nick sat down too and watched her friends look over him. He was completely aware he was being judged. He wondered what Miley had told them about him, if anything.

"Hi, Nick, I'm Demi," Miley's best friend said, holding out her hand. He shook it. "You're Joe's brother, right?"

Nick nodded, a little shocked that someone like Demi even knew who he was. Or even realized he was related to Joe, considering how different they were both personality-wise and physically.

"Well, maybe you could put in a good word for me then," she said with a little wink. Nick grinned at that. Joe would die. Demi was definitely next on his list of top girls after Miley.

"I'm Lilly," the blonde sitting next to Demi said, also offering his hand, "And if you have any other older brothers, feel free to give them my number."

"You guys!" Miley chided playfully, "I didn't bring him over to get you dates."

The rest of the girls introduced themselves to Nick as well, although they didn't seem to be as close to Miley as Lilly and Demi were. He had a feeling that they just liked Miley because she was popular, but of course he kept his thoughts to himself. It wasn't his place and what did he know about girls anyway?

Once he had met all the girls, he looked at the guys who were all shooting him dirty looks. Nick knew they were jealous. He had seen all of them checking her out or trying to talk her up at one point and yet somehow the freshman in front of them was the one she had picked.

"Aren't you guys going to introduce yourselves?" Miley said cheerfully, giving them all her signature smile. If she noticed any tension, she completely ignored it.

"I'm Taylor," the muscular tanned guy sitting next to Demi said, giving him a little wave. He didn't seem too hostile, to Nick's relief. Next to Taylor was Oliver and next to him was Jake, who gave Nick a death glare so intense, he almost fell off the bench. He definitely wouldn't be befriending that guy anytime soon. In the seat next to Nick was a guy with brown hair.

"Yo, I'm Jesse," he said, "Nice to meet you, Nick."

It wasn't as bad as Nick was expecting. After the initial shock of Miley bringing a freshman to their table, most of the guys didn't seem to have that much against him. Besides Jake, of course. They went back to their discussion about the upcoming football game as if Nick wasn't even there.

The girls, however, were highly aware of his presence and threw question after question at him. Where did he live? How old was he? How did him and Miley meet? Were they dating?

Nick froze at the last question. He wasn't sure how to answer that. They had been on a date. And they had hooked up. But were they dating?

"Girls," Miley said with a flick of her wrist and a chuckle, "Let the poor boy eat his lunch."

Nick smiled at her gratefully and she squeezed his knee under the table. Although part of him wanted to know exactly what they were.

"Crap!" Miley exclaimed suddenly, "I forgot a spoon for my yogurt."

"I can get it," Nick offered, making a move to get up.

"No, no. Stay," she insisted, "I'll be right back."

Nick looked around the table, unsure if he wanted to sit at the table with these people, but he smiled at her and let her go.

"So, Nick, have you and Miley hooked up yet?" Jesse asked the second Miley was out of earshot. Everyone's heads perked up at his question. Nick practically choked on his iced tea.

"Look at his face," Taylor commented with a laugh, "They totally have."

Nick shook his head half-heartedly. He knew there was no way to change their minds and technically they were right anyway.

"Shit dude," Oliver said, "You got with Miley. What was it like?"

"Oliver!" Lilly said sharply. Nick was pretty sure that the two of them were dating so it wasn't surprising that she would be offended by her boyfriend's fascination with Miley.

"What? I'm just asking. It's just guy talk," he said defensively.

"What's just guy talk?"

Everyone's heads snapped to look at Miley. They all wore slightly guilty looks on their faces, like they were caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Nothing, nothing," Oliver mumbled and Miley gave him a strange look. She didn't question it even though Nick's ears were burning red. He looked over at Jake who sent him a glare so cold, Nick was surprised he didn't drop dead.

The table was awkwardly quiet, seeing as their previous conversation had been halted. Miley looked around at everyone trying to figure out what happened while she was gone. No one said anything though. The guys didn't want to admit that they cared and the girls didn't want to be the ones to betray the guys.

"Well… Nick and I are gonna go now," Miley said standing up. Nick followed suit as they went to throw out their lunches. After dropping off their trays, Miley reached over and grabbed Nick's hand, dragging him out of the cafeteria. The second they left, the whole room burst into chatter.

Nick and Miley stared at each other for a moment before they both started cracking up.

"That. Was. So. Awkward." Miley said in between bouts of laughter.

"Oh yeah," Nick agreed, "I thought Jake was going to burn a hole in my head."

"His face was priceless. But I think the girls liked you."

Nick shook his head and Miley ruffled his curls.

"Watch, they'll all be dating freshmen next week. Better tell your friends to watch out for cougars."

They were both still laughing when they were interrupted by a little cough. Nick looked up and saw Selena standing there. And she looked pissed.

"Hi, Nick," she said, crossing her arms, "I _thought_ we were having lunch together. But I see you found someone better to sit with."

Selena gave Miley a look that rivaled the one that Jake gave Nick.

"Nick!" Miley said, smacking his shoulder, "You were supposed to eat with Selena?"

Nick looked at her surprised, "Uh, yeah… but then you asked me and I—"

"You can't just blow people off like that, Nick," Miley scolded him. Then she turned to Selena and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Miley."

"I know who you are. Everyone does." Selena said coldly, not taking Miley's hand.

Miley retracted her arm and it was quiet in the hallway. Even Nick's heart seemed to stop. _Please don't let Miley rip Selena apart _Nick thought. He knew that Selena was trying to act tough but if Miley shot her down, Selena would probably _break_ down.

"I'm really sorry about Nick," Miley said truthfully. Even Selena's stony face dropped for a moment in surprise. Even she had been gearing up for a battle. "And I'd really like to make it up to you. How about after school you come with us to get ice cream? I'll drive. Nick's treat."

She smirked at Nick at that last part and he just shrugged. He would gladly fork over a few dollars for ice cream if it meant there wasn't about to be a girl fight. Miley smiled at Selena and waited patiently for her answer.

Nick could practically see the conflict running across her face. On the one hand, she really wanted to be seen hanging out with Miley, but on the other hand she had always acted like she didn't care about Miley. Also it didn't help that Miley seemed to be with the boy she liked. But then again, she was supposed to be getting over that boy.

Selena glanced at Nick who gave her a little nod of encouragement. He didn't mind Selena tagging along. He wasn't even planning on going anywhere with Miley after school, so it wasn't like she was interrupting previous plans.

"Okay," Selena said, her scowl just barely leaving her face, "Anything to not have to take the bus."


	12. Chapter 12

**basically just wrote this, read it through once and posted it. so if there's errors... you know why.**

"But then in that action movie… with the girl from that TV show—"

"He was so hot!"

"I know, his haircut was amazing and his arms in that suit!"

"I seriously almost died. He is amazing."

"And he was so cute in that romantic comedy from last summer."

"Oh, I know. I've fantasized dating him a million times."

Nick stared at the two girls in front of them, barely able to keep up with their conversation. They were talking a mile a minute about a topic that Nick had no experience in. Miley had asked Selena what kind of movies she liked and it turned out they both had the same favorite actor whom they had been talking about for at least the last ten minutes.

Nick felt slightly left out, but he supposed that it was better than them being at each other's throats.

"So how do you like that milkshake?" Miley asked Selena.

"It's so good," Selena said taking another sip, "I can't believe this is fat free."

"I know, right? People think I get it to be health-conscious, but truthfully I just get it because it tastes awesome."

"I'm definitely going to get this from now on."

"Nice," Miley said with a smile before turning to Nick, "How's your ice cream?"

"Not as good as you two are making those shakes sound," he joked and Miley laughed. She reached over and grabbed Nick's free hand, holding it on the table.

"So are you two, like, together?" Selena asked.

Nick looked at Miley, unsure of the answer himself.

"We're just figuring things out," Miley answered with a smile, squeezing his hand gently.

"Good for you. You two are kind of cute together in a weird way," Selena said, sounding surprisingly genuine.

"So are you guys excited for the big game at the end of the month?" Miley said. Nick loved how easy it was for her to make conversation in any situation. She had so much charisma. If it were him, Selena, and some other girl, he was sure the three of them would be sitting in silence just staring at each other.

"I wasn't exactly planning on going," Selena admitted, looking over at Nick who shrugged.

"I guess I'd probably go to see Joe play."

Miley shook her head, "you guys have to go! It's so fun. Everyone gets all crazy and excited. Plus we have a really great routine for the halftime show… I'm getting launched in the air so it might be worth it just in case I fall on my ass."

"You won't fall," Nick told her shaking his head.

"Fine, but still. You guys should come. At least to see me cheer. We're friends, right?"

The smile that crossed Selena's face was the biggest Nick had ever seen on her. And Miley didn't even sound fake about it. She was actually interested in getting to know Selena. By the end of the ice cream date, Miley and Selena had already made plans to go shopping that weekend. Nick didn't know how she did it. She somehow managed to charm everyone.

"I don't want to study," Miley said after they had dropped Selena off and had made it back to her house. She trudged up the stairs to her room, kicked off her shoes and sat cross-legged on her bed, patting the spot in front of her.

Nick decided to humor her for a little bit so he stepped out of his shoes as well and mimicked her seating across from him.

She smiled and placed her hands palms up in front of him. He was unsure what she wanted so he gently rested his palms on top of hers. He expected that she might lace their fingers, but she didn't.

"Selena seems like a really nice girl," Miley said as she began to tickle his palms with her fingers, "Maybe I can convince her to try out for cheerleading. She seems like she could be athletic. It would help her to meet people and gain some confidence."

Nick stared at her in awe. How could she be such a nice person? And how could he (and most of the people in their school who also misjudged her for some kind of popular slut-bitch) not have known?

He was about to say something, when suddenly Miley brought her hands out from under his and slapped them.

"Ow!" Nick said, even though it didn't actually hurt. Miley tossed her head back and laughed. "What was that for?"

"What you've never played Slaps?" Miley asked, returning her hands to the palms up position.

"I didn't realize we were playing," Nick said defensively as he rested his hands back on hers. This time when she brought her hands up, he noticed and quickly moved out of the way.

"Good job," Miley said with a smirk, "But you'll never be able to get me."

After a few more rounds it became obvious that she was right. It was like she could read his mind the way she always moved her hands out of the way and never fell for his fake outs. He wasn't so bad either, but she did manage to get him a few times.

"How did you get so good at this?" Nick asked incredulously as she pulled her hands away from his at the last possible second.

Miley laughed at his shock.

"Back when we were around nine or ten, Demi's parents went through a pretty nasty divorce… lots of screaming and fighting. So Demi's mom used to call my mom when it got really bad so that Demi could stay here with us. Demi never wanted to talk about it though so we'd just sit up here playing Slaps for hours until we fell asleep or until her mom picked her up."

Nick frowned at the sad story. He couldn't imagine what that would be like. Sure, his dad wasn't perfect but Nick knew that he loved his mom very much.

Miley pulled her hands away from Nick's and rested them on her own knees.

"That was when I began to notice that she always had Band-Aids on her wrists," she continued somberly, looking down at her own wrists, "I still remember them, they were neon pink. It seems so ironic that such a bright color was hiding such a dark secret."

Nick looked at her puzzled and nodded for her to continue.

"She was harming herself," Miley explained, "My perfect little best friend was cutting herself because she blamed herself for her parents' divorce."

She finally looked up at Nick and he noticed the glistening tear track down her face. He reached and wiped the liquid from her cheek.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, unsure of what else to say.

"It's okay. She finally found the courage to tell her mom once her dad moved out and she got help. But before that, I made her promise that instead of hurting herself, she'd come play Slaps with me when she was upset. That's why I'm so good. I've played a lot."

"You're a beautiful person," Nick said, without planning to or thinking about it. It was kind of like the first time that he told her she was beautiful. It was like he could see everything. How kind and generous and loving she was and he couldn't help but comment on it.

"You think so?" Miley said, blinking her eyes a few times to get rid of the tears that were there.

"I know so," Nick confirmed. Miley reached out and laced her right hand with his left. Then she stretched out across her bed on her left side and indicated that he should lie next to her.

"I never told anyone that about Demi," she said quietly, looking straight into his brown eyes with her blue ones, "So you can't tell anyone."

"I promise."

She smiled and propped her head up using her free hand.

"Now tell me something about you. Something that no one knows."

Nick thought about it. There was a lot about him that no one knew, mostly because no one seemed to care to know. Most of it was pretty boring though. After Miley's story, something like his collecting baseball cards or not actually liking math that much didn't seem like a big deal.

"Joe and I used to be best friends."

"Really?" she asked, but not in shocked way, more in a 'please continue' way. Nick nodded and continued.

"Before he really got into football. We used to talk all the time about everything. But you know how the football team can be… We just grew apart."

"I'm sorry."

"Sometimes I wish I could just walk into his room and talk to him the way I used to."

Nick let go of her hand and rolled onto his back and looked up at her white ceiling. She scooted over so that she was lying next to him with her head on his shoulder.

"I bet he misses you too," she said, rubbing her hand across his abs in a soothing way, "you should try talking to him."

"He has his football friends."

"Yeah, but they're all meatheads."

Nick laughed at her comment. "Aren't those guys your friends?"

"How do you think I know they're meatheads?" she quipped back with a giggle of her own, "But I still think you should try. Nothing ever changes if you don't."

"Thanks, I'll think about it," he told her and turned his head to hers. For a moment he hesitated, but then went with his instinct of pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Now enough distractions. I know you have a big test on Friday and you need to get at least a B+ if you want to pass this semester. Time to hit the books."

After Miley insisted she drive him home, Nick walked into his house to the smell of homemade lasagna cooking in the oven. Being the hungry growing boy that he was, he immediately went into the kitchen to assess how long it would be until dinner.

"Is it true?"

Nick was practically thrown against the wall as Joe placed his hands on Nick's shoulders. Nick looked at him questioningly.

"Is it true that Sex—" his eyes glanced over to their mom who was cutting bread at the counter, "that _Miley _asked you to eat lunch with her?"

Nick could feel his face turning red even as he tried to give Joe a casual nod.

"No way, no effing way. Is this like some kind of joke? You know what the guys on the football team were saying at practice? That you and Miley are like _dating _now."

Nick must have looked guilty or something because Joe's eyes widened.

"Oh my God, you _are _dating her!"

"Shh…" Nick hissed, eyeing their mom and tossing Joe's hands off his shoulders. But it was too late.

"Nick's dating someone?" their mom asked, turning around to face the two brothers.

"He's dating Miley," Joe informed her while Nick gave him a death look.

"The girl you're tutoring? Isn't she a senior?" she said confused. Nick sighed. He wasn't even sure if dating was the right word to describe whatever they were doing.

"Yeah, she's a pretty cool girl and we're just kind of testing the waters," Nick said shyly. It felt weird talking like this in front of his mom. Not that he wasn't close to her, but he'd never really been in this kind of situation before.

"Well, I'd love to meet her," his mom said cheerily, "How about after tutoring tomorrow you invite her over for dinner?"

"Mom…" Nick groaned.

"What?" she said, "Is there a reason you don't want me to meet her, Nicholas?"

Even though his mom sounded sweet, she used his full name and Nick knew that meant she meant business. There was no way out of this one. So he just nodded and promised that he would ask her.

After dinner and doing the dishes, which was Nick's job, he went upstairs. He paused for a moment at Joe's door thinking about what Miley had said earlier. He was pretty sure that this wasn't what she meant when she told him to talk to Joe, but at least they were going to talk.

"Dude," Nick said, opening the door and walking in, "That was really not cool how you told mom about Miley and I."

Joe looked up from his laptop. "I didn't tell her. She overheard."

"As if you didn't know she would overhear," Nick scoffed.

"Sorry," Joe held his hands up, "I didn't realize that you two were such a big secret. I don't see the big deal in bringing her over for dinner."

"It's complicated," Nick said, hating the words as soon as they came out of his mouth so he decided to try to elaborate, "We're not like… dating. We're just…"

Nick trailed off awkwardly, but Joe caught on.

"Hooking up?"

Nick nodded.

"And have you guys done…?"

Nick nodded again and blushed. But at the same time he felt a little proud of himself in a weird masculine way.

"Dude!" Joe said, bringing his legs up and making a spot for Nick on his bed, "I can't believe you didn't tell me this happened. All this time I thought you weren't even interested in her at all."

"Well, she's really something special. I didn't realize it before."

Joe looked at Nick and then shook his head.

"Nick… you don't… _love_ her? Do you?"

Nick shrugged. "Maybe."

Joe looked at him warily, "Nick, I don't know if that's a good idea, I mean she has a reputation and you're just—"

"You don't even know her," Nick snapped, interrupting his brother, "She's not like that okay?"

"Okay, okay. No need to get so defensive. I'm just trying to look out for my little brother. Now how was the sex with her? Was she awesome? Did she know a lot of—"

"Joe!"

Joe laughed his loud obnoxious laughter, but Nick didn't mind. It felt good to talk like this again with Joe. Miley had been right.

"Fine, fine. But I'll be expecting updates from now on. You can't keep me in the dark about your life like this, little bro."

Nick smiled and got up from the bed. Then he gave Joe their secret shake which they hadn't done in a while. As he was about to leave the room Nick turned around.

"By the way, Joe. Demi's totally interested in you."

And before Joe could beg for more information, Nick scurried down the hallway into his own room. That would be a conversation for another time.

* * *

**So it was kind of just a cutesy chapter, but whatever we all need those every once in a while.  
**

**The age difference in this story doesn't seem as weird now that Nick's rumored to be dating a 26 year old, huh? **


	13. Chapter 13

"This is okay, right?" Miley asked Nick, looking into the full-sized mirror in her room. She turned around and smoothed her dress over her backside. "It's a little short..."

"It's perfect," Nick assured her, looking her body over. She had on a sleeveless dress with a small blue floral print and flat brown boots that went just under the knee so that a few inches of tan leg showed. The top of the dress was modest with a ruffle and Miley had layered three or four necklaces on top of it. Her hair was straight and flowing down her back. Nick thought she looked great.

"Okay," she took a deep breath, "Let's go."

She grabbed her keys and Nick followed her down the stairs.

"So what kind of things does your mom like?" she asked as she headed for the kitchen. Nick was confused as he watched her open the fridge and pull out a pie box.

"What's that?

"It's a pie. Never arrive at dinner empty handed. It's apple, I hope that's okay."

Nick smiled at the nervous look on her face. "That's my dad's favorite."

She sighed in relief. "Good. I didn't know what to get and I figured everyone likes apple but I didn't know if- shit! Look at the time, we're going to be late."

"You need to calm down," Nick told her, even though he found her nervousness to be really cute. She shook her head but gave him a smile and the pie to hold while she drove.

"So, back to your mom. What does she like? You know, so I have something to talk to her about."

Nick thought about it. What did his mom like? To be honest, he didn't really think of her as anything other than his mom.

"She likes to cook. And she likes flowers and working in the garden. Oh and of course she likes me."

Like Nick hoped, Miley smiled at the last one. He figured making jokes would help calm her down.

"Well, at least we'll have one thing in common," Miley joked back, making Nick blush slightly.

Nick's house wasn't far and it wasn't long before they were standing at the front door. Nick wanted to just walk in as he normally would, but Miley wanted to ring the door bell.

"Did you forget your key or something?" was the first thing Joe said when he opened the door. He stared at Nick critically.

"No, Miley wanted to-"

"Hello, Miley," Joe said before Nick could finish. His voice lost all the attitude from when he spoke to Nick and was replaced by a smooth tone.

She giggled, "Hey Joe, how's it going?"

"Good, good. Mom's in the kitchen, Nick," Joe said addressing his little brother.

"C'mon," Nick said holding out his hand for Miley. She shifted the pie box into one hand and grasped Nick's hand with the other. Nick noticed how her hand was slightly sweaty and the way she held onto him tightly. It was so different seeing her in a vulnerable position.

"Mom? Miley and I are here," Nick called as not to surprise his mom by their entrance.

His mom turned around and looked at Miley.

"Hi. I'm Miley Stewart," the girl said, letting go of Nick's hand to hold it out for his mom. Mrs. Lucas shook her hand firmly and smiled. Nick held his breath as his mom looked her over. Her eyes lingered on her short hemline and her mouth twitched in distaste. He gulped. But his mom had always taught him not to judge by appearances so hopefully she would take her own advice.

"It's nice to meet you, Miley," she said sweetly, "What's that you got there?"

"Oh!" Miley exclaimed as if she had forgotten her other hand was occupied, "It's a pie. For you guys. From me. It's apple."

Nick watched amused as she awkwardly held it out and his mom accepted it. So this was what Joe always had to experience when he brought girls over for dinner. Although, not that Nick was biased or anything, Miley was way better than any of the girls Joe brought over. Most of them did arrive empty-handed and then barely touched their food. Then again, Nick thought, it was better than them throwing it up after in their bathroom.

"Nick, how about you set the table? Your dad should be home in a few minutes."

"I can help!" Miley volunteered quickly.

Nick shook his head. He knew not to let the guest to any work. She wasn't the only one with good social manners.

"Come on," she pouted, "I'll just put the stuff out. You can get it all since I don't know where things go in your house anyway."

Nick gave in. He figured she just wanted something to do so she wasn't sitting around fidgeting. He was slightly worried what his mom thought about her, but he knew Miley would charm her once she started talking.

"This is delicious, Mrs. Lucas," Miley said as they tucked into their meal of stuffed shells, salad, and garlic bread, "I love Italian food."

"Thank you, Miley."

"You know, you look familiar," Mr. Lucas said, waving his garlic bread in the air when he talked.

Miley smiled sweetly. "Well, you've probably seen me at Joe's games. I'm the head cheerleader."

"That's it!" he exclaimed, "So how's the squad doing this year?"

"Right now we're just working on supporting our boys in their big game coming up, but when the football season is over, we start our competition season."

"Good, good," he said sounding just like Joe earlier. Nick looked down as Miley, his dad, and Joe talked about the football team. It was a subject that Nick didn't have a lot of experience in so he didn't have a lot to say.

"So Miley," Mrs. Lucas said when there was a lull in the conversation, "you're a senior, right? What are your plans for after graduation?"

Nick sat up, suddenly interested in the conversation. He didn't know what Miley's plans were. In fact, most of the time he almost forgot that she was going to be leaving high school after this year. When they were together, the few years between them didn't matter.

"I'm not really sure yet," Miley said. Nick's eyes snapped to her face. There was an awkward pause at the table before Miley continued. "Well, I don't really know what I want to do yet. I'm interested in a lot of different things. So I think I'll take the year off, get a job, maybe take a few courses at community or maybe travel. Nothing's really definite yet."

"I see," Mrs. Lucas said. Nick and Joe cringed at her tone. They both knew that tone. It meant disapproval. Miley bit her lip, looking around unsure at the family around her. Nick felt terrible. He reached under the table and touched her knee. She jumped slightly.

"Well, they say that most people change their mind about their major after their freshman year anyway," Joe said, trying to diffuse the situation. Nick shot him a grateful smile.

"Yeah. It's just that college is expensive and if I'm not really sure what I'm doing yet, there's no point in spending so much money."

"Nothing wrong with saving money," Mr. Lucas said with a smile on his face.

"Nick here is going to get into Harvard, right Nick?" Mrs. Lucas said proudly. Nick blushed. Actually, they had never talked about college before. He hadn't even gotten through his freshman year. He wasn't even thinking about where to apply let alone where he would get in or go.

"I still have a lot of time to decide," he mumbled, looking down at his plate.

"Well, yes, _some_ people do great at Ivy schools," Miley said, her jaw tense, "But some people were cut out to do other things."

Nick wanted to die. He wished the floor would open up and swallow him. He really, really liked Miley, but he really didn't want her to get into it with his mother. Even if his mother wasn't being all that nice either.

Mrs. Lucas paused before responding, "I suppose you're right."

There was an awkward silence and Miley's face relaxed.

"So, I saw your garden," she said with a smile on her face even though Nick could tell she was uncomfortable, "The flowers are beautiful. I liked the orange ones."

"Oh the mums," Mrs. Lucas said pleasantly, as if there hadn't just been a tense moment, "Yes, I really do enjoy gardening. In fact the other day I found…"

Nick tuned his mother out as he watched Miley nod her head and give responses at the appropriate times. If he couldn't feel her leg shaking next to his, he would have no idea that she wasn't have the best time talking about peonies and fertilizer with his mom.

"Well, Miley," Mr. Lucas said once the apple pie Miley brought over had been served, "You certainly won me over."

Miley giggled and thanked him.

"Miley and I are going up to my room," Nick informed his family when they were done clearing the table.

"Don't forget to keep the door open," his mom called from the kitchen. Nick blushed in embarrassment, but led Miley upstairs into his bedroom.

"So," Miley said, throwing herself on his bed, "Is the door thing a ground rule or one your mom made up because she doesn't like me?"

Nick winced. "She likes you."

"It's okay. I know how I come off to her. Head cheerleader. Short dress. No future plans. Not exactly a winner."

She was trying to be casual, but Nick could tell that she was upset. Nick was upset too. He wanted his mom to really like Miley and it frustrated him that his mom couldn't see what a good person she was. Okay, so maybe she came off as a little spacey at dinner, but just because she was a cheerleader and didn't have a college plan yet didn't mean that she was a bad person.

"That's not true," Nick said, "She's probably just upset that I'm growing up or something like that."

That seemed to relax Miley and she smiled.

"Maybe you're right. My dad never likes any of my boyfriends either."

"Exactly. It's just a parent thing. Who understand them?"

Miley laughed at that.

"Thank you, Nick." She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. He grinned knowing that he had made her feel better.

"You know, though," Miley said with a smirk, "My dad did seem to like _you_."

Nick blushed and Miley traced over it with her fingertips.

"I'm not your boyfriend though," he blurted out. He wanted to smack himself. Of course after saying the right thing a few moments earlier, he messes it up by saying the wrong thing.

"Hm. Maybe we should change that then. I mean I've met your parents. You've met mine. And we… you know…"

Nick's blush increased. If he had dared look over her head into the mirror he would have been looking very flushed indeed.

Miley looked at him expectantly. Even though she was practically asking him to ask her, he was still nervous. It wasn't like she was going to say no, right? But the words were still stuck in his throat as he tried to formulate a coherent sentence.

"Miley," he said, swallowing the lump in his throat, "Will you be… my girlfriend?"

She nodded excitedly, "Yes, Nick. I would love to be your girlfriend."

Then she reached up and grabbed his neck to pull him onto the bed next to her.

Later, after Nick walked Miley out to her car, he went into the living room where his parents were. His dad was watching sports while his mom was fixing a whole in one of Joe's uniforms.

"So, what did you guys think of Miley?" he asked nervously, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"She sure is a looker, Nick," his dad said with a loud laugh, "She seems nice. I like her."

His mom, however, sighed and put down the jersey. Nick's dad took one look at her and excused himself mumbling something about getting a drink.

"She does seem _nice," _she started, "But i wouldn't get too attached to her, dear. She seems to be a bit of a free spirit, don't you think?"

Nick felt his blood boil. Her free spirit was what he liked about her. She didn't take everything to seriously. She got good grades (except in math), but she also knew that school wasn't the most important thing. She liked to dress up, but she felt comfortable in sweatpants too. She liked playing the guitar and singing and helping out her friends.

"That's why I like her," Nick said quietly, not being the type to get into arguments especially with his mom.

"Oh, Nick," she sighed again, "Honestly, I think she's just a little afraid to face the future and she's just using you to still feel attached to high school."

If Nick thought he was mad before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. His mom was supposed to be on his side. She was supposed to love Miley as much as he did. She wasn't supposed to act like Nick was some kind of mistake she was making because she was scared to grow up.

"You're wrong," was all he said before he stormed angrily to his room.

**drama~  
I don't even know why I haven't updated. I uploaded this to FanFiction weeks ago, but I'm just posting it now. I guess writing has just become less fun for me and so I feel less excited to post new chapters. But I won't completely abandon it, I promise. Thanks for sticking with me, I really appreciate it. **


	14. Chapter 14

**So I decided to just try to write through my writers block/lack of inspiration and here's what came out:  
**

Nick stared around his math classroom, bored out of his mind. The teacher had given them problems to work on and Nick had finished before everyone.

He drew an M on his paper and drew a heart around it. Then he quickly erased it when he realized what he was doing.

There was a sudden commotion at the front of the class and Nick looked up to see his beautiful girlfriend, in a v-neck shirt and skinny jeans, approaching his teacher's desk.

"Hi," she said sweetly, trying to be quiet even though the whole class could hear her, "I was just given this slip from the Principal's office and was told to bring it to you."

Nick's teacher looked up and suddenly his eyes locked with Nick's.

"Jonas," he said loudly, "Looks like you're wanted in the principal's office."

Fear slid through his body. He had never been called to the principal's office before. He tried to figure out what he could have done. He used a translator to help him read his Spanish last night because he had stayed longer at Miley's, but that wasn't really cheating right? It's not like it was something he was being graded on.

He felt like a dead man walking as he left the room.

"Hi!" Miley said perkily as soon as he closed the door. She had a huge grin on her face that Nick couldn't figure out.

"Do you have any idea why the principal would want me? He didn't give you any indicators?" Nick asked quickly, trying to step around her.

"Nick," she said giggling, "You weren't really called to the principal. I forged the note to get you out of class."

Nick's eyes widened, but at the same time he was relieved.

"Oh... why?"

Miley did a tiny half bounce and then pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to him. He had to unfold it several times before realizing what it was.

"You got your test back?" he asked, examining the paper.

"Yes!" she squealed, "And I got an A-! Thanks to my super cute tutor/boyfriend!"

"That's great, babe," he said, the pet name rolling off his tongue naturally, "I knew you could do it."

"But I couldn't do it without you," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck, "So I thought I should give you a little thank you."

"You don't have to-"

He was cut off by a firm kiss to his lips.

"Come here," she whispered and then grabbed his hand, dragging him down the hallway.

"Where are we going?"

"The library."

She pulled him through the double doors to the library and then veered off to the left where the personal study carrels were hidden behind a bookshelf. It was a place for students who preferred a less social type of studying compared to the main tables in the middle of the library.

"Don't worry," Miley whispered, "No one comes back here."

"I come back here," Nick blurted out. Miley chuckled quietly.

"Well, no one comes here during classes," she said, pushing him gently against one of the desks. She cupped her hand behind his neck, her nails making his hairs stand on end. Then she connected their mouths, kissing him deeply.

Just as he was getting into kissing her, he jumped as he felt her hand slide against his covered crotch.

"Miley!" he hissed, trying to move away which was difficult since he had Miley in front of him and the desk behind him.

"Shh," she said, "You have to be quiet. Can you do that for me?"

Nick thought about it. On the one hand, his hot girlfriend was trying to hook up with him and he definitely didn't want to turn her down. But on the other, he was in the library. He would never be able to concentrate on studying back here again. Plus, if one of the practically ancient librarians caught them he didn't know what they'd do.

"Nick?" she said, breathing hotly against his neck and leaving a wet kiss under his ear, "Can you keep quiet?"

"Uh-huh," was the only noise Nick could get out.

"Good," she said before sliding her knees onto the floor and unzipping his pants.

"Nick! Selena!" Miley called from across the lunchroom, waving excitedly for them to come over.

Selena glanced unsurely at Nick.

"We don't have to if you don't want to," he told her, even though he did want to go over and sit with his girlfriend.

"Come on!" Miley called again, laughing loudly. There probably wasn't a person in the room who wasn't watching Miley trying to get the attention of two freshmen.

"No, it's fine," Selena said, picking up her lunch while Nick followed suit.

"The boys have a football meeting," Miley explained the somewhat empty table, as Nick took a seat next to her and Selena took the one across from them, next to a curly haired blonde.

"Selena, this is Taylor Swift," Miley introduced the girls, "Taylor's a junior, but she just joined the squad last season. I'm trying to convince Selena to try out."

"You totally should," Taylor said excitedly, turning to talk to the younger girl," It's super fun and all the girls are really nice…"

As Taylor's voice got more and more excited and she began talking faster and faster, Nick tuned her out.

"So," Miley said, addressing the rest of her girlfriends, "We're still on for tonight, right?"

Demi nodded, "The mall at six, right?"

"Yes! I need a new outfit for the party after the big game." The group of girls all agreed with Miley's statement. Nick noticed Selena looking down at her hands. He wasn't the only one.

"You should totally come too," Miley said, addressing the younger girl, "I could pick you up and bring you home."

Selena's eyes widened in surprise. For a moment it seemed like the whole table was waiting for her response.

"I would like that," Selena said softly.

"You'd look so good in red," Taylor chipped in, "I saw this really cute red dress at one of the stores at the mall, but it was too harsh for someone with skin like mine. You should definitely try it on. I could show it to you."

"I think they're going to get along, don't you?" Miley whispered to Nick, while watching the two girls interact.

"Yeah," Nick agreed, "They really seem to be hitting it off."

"I knew they would," Miley said proudly, "That's why I asked her over."

"So it wasn't because you wanted to see me?"

"Oh, I definitely did. Especially after what we did during second period…" she trailed off naughtily and brushed her hand across his upper thigh.

"You're going to be the death of me," Nick said seriously and she tipped her head back and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Lilly asked Miley.

"Nothing," Miley said, "Nick and I are just going to go for a walk."

They got up and threw out their things, linking their hands once they were free. They walked down the empty hallways in silence for a while.

"Are you doing anything this weekend?" Miley asked suddenly.

"Uh, no. I don't think so."

"Well my friends… and me too, of course… kind of do this little group date thing every other Saturday… I mean if you're not into that we can do something else or we could—"

Nick grinned. He loved when she got all nervous around him, which wasn't very often.

"I'd love to be your date."

"Good, then I'll pick you up at seven on Saturday night."

For some reason, Nick was feeling oddly anxious about joining Miley and her friends outside of school. It was one thing to sit with them in the lunchroom at a school they all went to. It felt different to hang out with them in a different setting.

Miley and Nick were the last two to arrive at the restaurant.

"Sorry!" Miley said as she sat down at the long table, "I was running late so then I picked up Nick late… but we're here now!"

Nick smiled at the familiar face across the table. Joe winked back at him and then shifted his eyes towards his date, Demi, and raised his eyebrows twice. Demi's cleavage was pushed high up on her chest. Nick shook his head at his older brother's antics, but at the same time, he was happy for him.

At the other end of the table were Oliver and Lilly, and Jesse with a girl Nick didn't know who introduced herself as Ashley.

"Did you guys order yet?" Miley asked the group.

"Nope," Demi said, "We actually just sat down a little while ago. I guess they had to move some tables together."

Nick looked over his menu. It was a typical American restaurant and he was looking forward to having a good burger.

"Sorry, am I late?"

Nick's head shot up at the voice. Jake. Just as Nick saw him, Jake's eyes focused on Nick. Jake's face began to get extremely red.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Jake asked addressing Miley and pointing at Nick.

"Well, considering he's my _boyfriend_," Miley said, "He's my date. I don't remember inviting you. Did you bring a date?"

Nick couldn't help but notice the way that Jake's hands curled up into fists. He was willing to bet that this group date dinner was something this group did often, normally with Miley as Jake's date. And Jake did not seem happy with that.

"No," the blond haired boy said through gritted teeth, "I did not bring a date."

"Pull up a chair, man," Oliver offered, trying to break the tension at the table, "There's room on the end here."

Jake took a seat but his eyes didn't stop glaring at Nick and Miley for almost the entire meal.

"That was delicious," Demi said, once the group was done and they had exited the restaurant, "Thanks again for paying for me, Joe."

"Anytime," he said, putting an arm around her to warm her up from the night air.

"So what now?" Jesse asked, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Let's hit Rush," Jake said. Even though he'd never been there, Nick knew that Rush was the name of the only bar in their town. He also knew that he wouldn't be able to get in.

"No," Miley interjected, "Let's just go see a movie or something."

"But we haven't been to Rush in forever!" Ashley whined.

Demi looked at Joe.

"I have a fake," he told her. Nick was surprised. He didn't even know that his brother had a fake ID.

"Well, then I'm in," Demi said, "I want to get my dance on."

"Wait guys—"

"So Rush it is," Jake said, interrupting Miley.

"Do you have a fake, Nick?" Lilly asked him suddenly. Nick blushed at the attention turned to him. Even if he did, he definitely could not pass for 21.

He shook his head. At least Lilly had the manners to look sympathetic.

"Just drive him home, Miles." Oliver suggested, "Then you can meet us there."

If there was ever a time that Nick wished he didn't exist, it was that moment. He could see Miley's lips becoming pursed like they did when she was angry.

"Whatever, assholes," she said, "You guys go, have a good time. Nick and I will find something else to do."

The group began to protest and make excuses, but Miley was already grabbing Nick and dragging him to her car.

Nick watched the way her hands clenched the steering wheel and she began to drive home. He felt like he was about two inches tall.

"I don't mind if you go with them," he told her, "You can just drop me off at home."

Miley took a deep breath and visibly relaxed her tense body.

"It's not you I'm mad at Nick. It's them. They're supposed to be my friends. They're supposed to support my relationships."

"They don't like me?"

Miley sighed, "they like you as a person. They just don't understand _us_."

Nick let that sink in. He was sorry that he was driving a wedge between Miley and her friends, but at the same time he was happy because that meant she cared about him enough to let that happen.

"I'd rather hang out with you then try to avoid Jake groping me on the dance floor and Demi getting too drunk anyway."

Even Nick had to smile at that.

"And also," Miley added, taking her eyes off the road to give him a seductive look, "My parents are out for the night so we'll have the house all alone."

**Blah. Well. I don't know. I feel like it's very straightforward and not a lot happens. I was originally going to drag this out into two chapters but I felt like you guys deserved more since it's been so long. I still feel like you deserve more, but I'm really going to try to update again within the next week and the next chapter is actually the big game-changer.**

**I know that a lot of you are probably annoyed that I haven't updated in forever, but it seems like interest in fanfiction has really gone down. In general, it just seems like stories have less and less reviews. So I'd really appreciate if you could just review and let me know if you're still interested/reading this. Thanks. **


	15. Chapter 15

"Are you guys excited to go to your first big high school football game?" Nick's mom said, turning around to face the two teenagers in the backseat.

"Yeah it should definitely be fun," Selena said giggling at the older woman's excitement.

"I've been to Joe's games before," Nick mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed by what a big deal his mom was making over it.

"But it's different now that you're a student at the high school," his mom insisted.

Nick groaned inwardly. He wished him and Selena could've just gotten a ride with Joe or Miley. It was so embarrassing to be riding in the backseat of his parents' car. But they had to be at the school early to change and prepare for the game versus their school's rival.

"So will we be seeing Miley cheering tonight?" Nick's dad asked.

"Why do you think I'm going?" Nick mumbled under his breath. Selena heard him and pressed her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle. Nick was glad someone was enjoying this situation because he certainly wasn't.

"What was that, son?"

"I said, yeah she'll be cheering."

"Do you know Miley, Selena?" Mrs. Lucas asked, her tone noticeably cooler.

"Every one knows Miley," Selena said and Nick shot her a look. "I mean, she's nice. She actually took me shopping the other day."

"It's just hard for me seeing my Nicholas dating someone so much older than him," she sighed. Nick felt like jumping out of the car. His mom still hadn't let go of the Miley issue. It still couldn't be more obvious that she didn't like Miley.

"They balance each other out," Selena defended him. Nick flashed her a smile. In the past few weeks, she had really become a good friend- just a friend- to him. Now that she realized her schoolgirl crush on him was just that, it was easier for them to be comfortable around each other. Her and Miley had also developed a kind of little sister/big sister bond which helped things along.

"We're here!" Mr. Lucas announced as they pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car.

"Thank God," Nick muttered under his breath.

"Joe is going to give you a ride home, right Nick?"

"Yeah, mom."

"And you have a ride too, Selena?"

"Yes, and thank you so much for the ride here!"

_She's cute_ Nick's mom mouthed at him. He rolled his eyes.

"Well, have fun in the student section. You know where to find us if you need us."

Once Selena and Nick were a good distance away from his parents, Selena erupted into loud laughter.

"Your mom is so sweet," she said.

"If by sweet you mean annoying," Nick retorted.

"She just really cares about you," Selena said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Nick said as they settled into their seats. He knew it was true, but that didn't make him feel better about their awkward car ride.

The event started with the other team running out to booing from the student section. Then their cheerleaders lined up outside the home locker rooms, waving their pom-poms. Nick could see Miley in her uniform standing at the head of the line. The team was announced and the crowd cheered loudly.

The players took their places on the field and the cheerleaders went to the sidelines. They immediately started a routine in which Miley was thrown up into the air. Nick held his breath and let out a sigh of relief when she was safely on the ground.

The game got off to a good start with their team getting a touchdown right off the bat. Even though Nick had his doubts about the guy as a person, Jake definitely knew what he was doing as a quarterback.

Miley and her girls erupted into a cheer and waved their pom-poms again. Nick couldn't help but notice the way her uniform showed off a few inches of her toned tummy. She shook her hips and danced along with the routine, smiling and laughing. She turned around and then, once she was facing the crowd again, she kissed her hand and blew it up to Nick. He blushed as the entire student section turned to look at him. Suddenly he wasn't some anonymous freshman, he was the guy all the girls wanted and all the guys envied just because of the fact that Miley was into him.

By the end of the game, thanks to a great play by Jake and Joe, their team won by just one touchdown. The crowd began to exit the stands.

"Do you want to go to the snack bar?" Nick asked Selena who nodded. Nick had to wait for Joe and Selena was catching a ride with Taylor so they both had some time to waste.

At the small shack, in addition to food items, they were also selling single roses to raise money for the charity that the cheerleading team sponsored. Nick wasn't entirely sure what the charity was for but when it was his turn to order he impulsively decided to buy one to give to Miley.

"Oooh trying to win some points with your girlfriend, I see," Selena teased him when she saw the rose in his hand.

"Shut up."

"So did you do something wrong or are you just one of those romantic guys?" Selena asked, still poking fun at him, "What? You can't take a joke—"

"Shh!" Nick whispered. He put a hand out so that she wouldn't pass him. They were passing underneath the bleachers, about to get to the sideline of the field.

"... And Nick."

Nick and Selena looked curiously at the four girls who seemed to be talking about Nick. They were in cheerleading uniforms, but Nick wasn't entirely sure of their names. They had to be either freshmen or sophomores because Miley had introduced him to all the seniors and most of the juniors on the squad.

"They're so cute. Did you see her blow him that kiss?"

Three of the girls squealed and sighed about how cute it had been. Nick smiled and Selena stuck out her tongue at him.

"Oh please. It's all just one big joke," the fourth girl said, putting a hand on her hip and rolling her eyes.

"What?" the first girl asked.

"Yeah, I heard- and you can't tell this to anybody!- but I heard Demi and Lilly in the locker room the other day talking about how they couldn't wait for Miley to stop messing with him. It was just some joke her and her friends came up with at lunch. Miley bet them that she could get a freshman to fall for her."

"No way! Shut up!" another girl gasped.

Nick felt the same way as the girl who yelled that out. His stomach sank somewhere near his feet and the thought he might actually be sick. He couldn't even bear to look at Selena he was so ashamed. It felt like the entire scene was fading from in front of him. He didn't know what to do so he dropped the rose he had been holding and turned around.

"Nick, wait!" Selena called chasing after him.

Nick didn't stop. He knew that if he stopped concentrating on walking quickly away, he would just start thinking about what he had just heard and he didn't think he was ready to face it. Eventually though she caught up to him.

"Nick, I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding..."

"It all makes perfect sense," Nick said, beating his fist against the chain link fence that surrounded the field, "The random kiss. All that 'I'm deeper than I look' crap. She knew it would work on me. And her friends asking her to leave me that night. They all know it's a big joke."

Nick hated himself for falling for it. It was so obvious looking at it now. How could he ever have thought she was genuinely into him?

"But, Nick, Miley wouldn't-"

"What do you know about what Miley would or wouldn't do?" Nick snapped.

"We're friends!"

"Oh, my God, don't you see Selena? That was all part of the plan. Those girls aren't your friends. They're probably laughing at us behind our backs. Ha-ha-ha, look at those idiot freshman who think Miley freaking Stewart likes them."

When Nick was done his rant, Selena stood in front of him with tears rolling down her face. Normally he would feel bad, but he was too worked up and emotional himself to bother with her feelings at the moment.

"If you see Joe, tell him I'll be waiting at his car."

Nick turned around and walked away. When he reached his brother's car he pounded his fist on the hood. He had never felt like hitting things more than he did right now. He remembered their first tutoring sessions. She hated him. How could he think things actually turned around? The hot and cold games that she played at first should have been an indicator that she didn't actually like him. And their first kiss. It was so random. She had no reason to kiss him. Except her stupid game. Damn, he was an idiot.

"Dude, Miley's looking for you," his brother said, suddenly next to him.

"Did you know?" Nick asked him angrily.

"Did I know what?" Joe said confused.

"That Miley was just playing a joke on me."

Joe stared at him blankly.

"This whole time, the thing between Miley and I, it was just a joke between her and her friends."

"Nick, that's crazy—"

"I heard it from her friends. Are you really trying to tell me Demi didn't say anything?"

Joe's face fell suddenly.

"What did Demi tell you?" Nick said fiercely.

"Not Demi," Joe said, "But Jake said something about Miley seducing a freshman in the locker room. But that was weeks ago. He hasn't said anything about it since. And he's kind of being a dick to you so, I mean, it's obviously not just a joke anymore to him…"

"It's all just a joke, Joe," Nick said, "Can we just go home?"

"Nick, I don't—"

"Please, Joe?"

Joe shrugged and pressed the button to unlock his car.

"Nick!"

On instinct Nick spun around to see who had called his name, but instantly regretted it. He tugged on the car door just to find that Joe had locked it again. Nick glared at his older brother.

"Nick! Wait!" Miley called, laughing and smiling. She had changed out of her cheerleading uniform into a black body-con dress for the after party and was struggling to walk quickly over to him.

"Where are you going?" she giggled, throwing her arms around his waist, "Don't I get a game-winning kiss?"

Nick stiffened and pushed her arms off of him. She backed off, looking at him puzzled. A faint smile stayed on her face, but it was obvious that she was thrown off by his cool attitude.

"Did you bet your friends you could get me to fall for you?"

Her face fell for a moment before she composed herself.

"What, Nick?" she asked, knitting her eyebrows together.

"Don't lie to me. Was this," he gestured between the two of them, "some kind of joke between you and your friends?"

"Where did you hear that?"

"So it's true!"

Miley looked flustered, "Nick, wait, I can explain. I mean, my friends were just teasing me about the tutoring thing and we might have mentioned—"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it," Nick said harshly, "Unlock the car, Joe."

Joe, who had been watching this whole scene unfold, looked uneasy.

"Bro, maybe you should—"

"Joe, I swear I will rip the door off your precious car if you don't unlock it for me."

"Okay, okay," Joe said defensively, unlocking the car and throwing Miley an apologetic look.

"Nick!" Miley said, grabbing his arm to prevent him from getting in the car, "Can't we just talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about Miley. You had your fun and now it's over. I hope you're happy."

A tear ran down Miley's face. She looked hurt but Nick could barely register that right now.

"I'm not happy, Nick."

"Well, I guess you should have thought about that before you lied. I just can't believe I was dumb enough to believe all that crap. Like you being a virgin. What a joke."

The last part came out impulsively, he didn't mean to say it. Nick heard giggling and was suddenly sucked back into the real world. Most of the football team and the cheerleaders had gathered around to watch the whole thing. He looked around at the only vaguely familiar faces that were now turning to whisper to each other.

He didn't even see it coming, but suddenly Miley's hand was contacting his face. He winced at the slap, but kept a strong exterior. She was shaking and there were more tears rolling down her face. Nick got into the car and closed the door. Joe followed.

"Nick—"

"Just drive, Joe."

Joe nodded and pulled out of the space. Nick didn't even look back at the girl who was standing alone, watching him get away.

**Updated~**


	16. Chapter 16

**Really wasn't feeling this chapter while writing it, but I pushed through it and here it is. Try not to judge too hard. **

* * *

"Nick? I'm about to leave, are you sure you don't want to go?"

Nick grunted from his place on his bed. He was face down with his face buried in his pillow.

"Come on, it'll be fun. Everyone is gonna be at the after party."

"Do you think I want to go?" Nick snapped, turning his head to glare at his older brother.

"Don't you think you should at least hear Miley out, dude?"

"What more could she possibly say to me? She already embarrassed me in front of the team and squad. It doesn't need to happen in front of everyone else too."

"Whatever," Joe said, giving up, "But what do you want me to tell mom?"

Nick groaned. He really did not want to deal with his mom right now. He hated the fact that she had been right about Miley.

"Tell her I'm sick and not to bother me."

"Fine, but you know that's not going to work on her. Have fun wallowing in self-pity."

Nick heard the door slam. Great. Now Joe was acting like an asshole too. Nick felt like he could cry. The tears were burning behind his eyes but his masculine pride wouldn't let them fall.

_She's just a girl, she's just a girl_, he repeated over and over to himself like a mantra. But she was more than just a girl to him even if he didn't want to admit it right now.

Unsurprisingly a few minutes later Nick heard a soft knock on his door.

"Nick, honey, can I come in?"

Nick grunted and his mom took that as an invitation to open the door. He felt weight on the side of the bed next to him. He really was not looking forward to having to talk to his mom. Sure, they were close, but there were some things, like this, that Nick preferred to keep to himself.

"Joe just left. I thought you were looking forward to this party?"

"I don't feel well," he grumbled into his pillow.

"Nicholas, does this have something to do with Miley?"

Here it came. The big I told you so lecture. How was it that mothers always knew what was wrong? Nick wanted to cover his ears and hide under his blankets. He didn't want to hear that he was wrong about Miley because he already knew it. Instead of a lecture though, Nick felt his mom rubbing his back soothingly like she used to do when he was little.

"I'm sorry that you're upset, sweetheart, but maybe it's for the best."

"It's not."

She chuckled softly and then got up.

"Well, I'm going to go, but I'll be around the house if you want to talk about it."

"Thanks, mom," he said sincerely before she could exit the room.

"No problem. You know, maybe you should try giving Selena a call."

Nick rolled his eyes at what his mother was suggesting. Even without Miley, he wasn't interested in Selena like that. He eyed his phone though. Maybe he should call her. If anyone felt as bad as him it had to be her. After all she had been tricked just as much as he had.

He found her name on his phone and pressed send. It rang what felt like forever. Finally it clicked, indicating that she had picked up but all he could hear was music.

"Hello?" he asked tentatively. For a moment he thought he had the wrong number until he finally heard Selena.

"Hold on," he heard her yell and then there was a muffled rustling sound for a minute or so, "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Nick asked puzzled.

"I'm at Oliver's, are you here yet? I thought I saw Joe."

Nick was shocked. Selena was at the party?

"What are you doing there?"

"You know there's a party tonight, Nick. You were there when Miley invited me. Aren't you coming?"

"No, I'm... sick," he lied lamely.

"Let me guess, you can't face Miley after you embarrassed her in front of everyone? Practically calling her a slut in front of all her friends was really smooth, Nick."

Nick's hands balled into fists even though no one was there to see his anger. He couldn't believe that Selena was trying to make him look like the bad guy.

"She lied to me!"

"You didn't even talk to her! Nick, I've spent some time with Miley now and I KNOW whatever was between you guys was real to her. Maybe it's not her you're doubting... It's yourself."

"Shut up, I didn't ask for you opinion," Nick said harshly without thinking. There was a slight pause and Nick thought about apologizing, but Selena spoke first.

"Fine. Screw you."

Nick heard a beep and looked at his phone, seeing that she had hung up on him.

Why was everyone acting like it was his fault? All he had done was try to be the best he could for Miley. He had put up with her crazy friends, his mom's disapproval, her mathematically challenged mind. And she had thrown that all back in his face and somehow everyone was on her side. Nick supposed that was what it meant to be popular like her. She could mess up as many times as she wanted and yet somehow everyone still loved her. Screw her and her charming personality. Nick wouldn't be fooled by it again.

He picked up his phone and looked at it again. His background was a picture of her smiling with the sun behind her. Even though he was mad at her, she was still so beautiful it made his chest ache. He quickly changed the picture to one of his dog. He didn't want to look at her anymore.

Even though he had been too busy moping all weekend to study, Nick was happy that they had a quiz in chemistry so that he didn't have to talk to Selena.

He snuck a glance at her. She was scribbling away on her paper while Nick's was practically blank in front of him. He stared back at his paper. He had no idea what this was on. There was an equation of the top of the page so he just plugged the numbers in and hoped it was right.

After what felt like an excruciating amount of time, the bell finally rang for lunch. Nick turned in his quiz and couldn't help but notice that everyone else had a lot more work than him. Oh well.

"Selena," he said, following the black-haired girl out of the classroom and grabbing her shoulder, "Listen, I'm sorry for blowing up at you the other night."

She whirled around and looked at him. He tried to put on what he hoped was a sincere look on his face.

"I could have been more understanding," she admitted with a sigh, "I know you were angry and upset."

"So do you want to each lunch together again, like old times?"

Selena's brown eyes shifted back and forth like she was guilty. "I'm really sorry Nick, but I promised Taylor I would each lunch with her so we could deconstruct the party the other night."

Nick couldn't believe even Selena was rejecting him right now.

"Fine," he said tightly.

"Well, maybe you could come or I could—"

"It's fine," he interrupted her and then turned away and headed for the library so he could tuck himself in the back of the research section and not have to show his face alone at lunch.

The bell rang for the next period, but Nick made no move to get up. He just didn't feel like going. He didn't want to deal with people staring at him and whispering. He heard people clearing out of the library to go to class and then nothing.

Nick had never skipped class before and now that he was out, he didn't know what to do. He decided to leave the library. He wandered through the quiet halls for a little bit until he came to the south hallway where he was faced with two people.

Miley. His heart beat out of his chest for a moment. Then he saw who had her pushed up against the lockers. Jake. Nick's stomach filled with disgust. He was about to turn around and walk away when he heard Miley speak with fear evident in her voice.

"What are you doing?"

Nick froze and watched the situation unfolding in front of him. Jake's hand slid up her shirt and his lips began to tend to her neck.

"Stop!" Miley said angrily, trying to push him away. But her thin frame was no match for the star quarterback.

"Come on, babe," he said and moved hand up higher.

"I said, no!" Miley insisted, bringing a hand up to slap him. Instead though, he caught her wrist and slammed it against the lockers. She whimpered in pain and fear. It was that noise that launched Nick into action.

He wasn't thinking at all as he bolted down the hallway and tackled Jake to the ground. Luckily he had his adrenaline and the element of surprise on his side, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have been able to pull it off. How dare he touch Miley, or any girl for that matter, like that. Nick was full of rage, but he had never fought before and he didn't know what to do. He tried to punch Jake but he was pretty sure it hurt his hand more than it hurt Jake's face.

It took the blond football player a moment to realize what had happened. One moment he was trying to hook up with Miley and the next thing he knows he's on the ground. He blinked confused as he felt a fist hit his face before he dawned on him that it was that wimpy freshman who had been tutoring Miley.

It didn't take long for him to flip Nick over onto the ground and it only took one hit to make his nose bleed. If this kid thought he could just attack him then he had another thing coming. Jake was going to make sure that no one would ever try to pull something on him again.

"Jake, stop! Oh, my God, Nick!" Miley cried, standing a little ways away from the two boys. She was shaking. She had decided to skip class after lunch and Jake had followed her. At first she thought he just wanted to talk but then he was pushing her up against the lockers and trying to touch her. Then suddenly he was on the ground and then punching Nick. She didn't know what to do. She knew she couldn't physically stop Jake so she was shouting, hoping to stop him or at least get someone's attention who could.

Nick thought he was going to die. He had never felt so much pain. His nose felt like it was on fire and he was aware of the blood pouring into his mouth. He tried to thrash around and defend himself, but Jake was too enraged and strong. Suddenly things began to go blurry. He struggled to focus on something. His head fell to the right and he saw Miley. Her hands were over her mouth in shock and she was crying. He tried to reach out for her. And then everything when black.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Lucas, we will definitely be taking action against Jake for doing this to your son. We have a no-tolerance violence policy at this school. I hope Nick is feeling better soon."

"Thank you, Principal Matthews, we appreciate it."

Nick was confused to hear his dad's voice. The last thing he remembered was skipping class. He wanted to open his eyes but they felt so heavy.

"Maybe you should get to class, Miss Stewart."

Nick's ears perked up at the mention of Miley. Then he remembered what happened. He felt a hand tighten around his.

"I'll go to class when I know that he's okay," Miley said back defiantly. Nick smiled inwardly at her spirit. He squeezed her hand back.

"Nick?" she said excitedly, "Nick, are you awake? He just squeezed my hand!"

"Nicholas?" he heard his mom said and a cool hand touched his forehead, "Nicholas, if you can hear us squeeze Miley's hand again."

He squeezed her hand again and then finally opened his eyes, blinking a few times as the bright florescent lights blinded him.

"Oh Nick!" Miley cried, throwing her arms around him, "I'm so so so sorry."

Nick patted her back awkwardly, still a little unsure what was happening.

"Miss Stewart, give him room to breathe please," next thing Nick knew, the school nurse was in his face, "Nick do you remembered what happened to you?"

"I was skipping class," he said suddenly and then looked at his parents feeling guilty, "And then I saw Miley…"

"And then…" the nurse prompted him.

"Jake was trying… he was trying to…" Nick stumbled over the right words, "And then I… I tackled him?"

The nurse looked to Miley who nodded her head.

"That's very good that you remember, Nick. A very good sign, although I'd still suggest going to a doctor to check for signs of a concussion. It also looks like your nose has a slight fracture."

The nurse moved away from him and then his mom was suddenly squeezing him.

"Nick," she said with a few tears escaping her eyes, "Don't ever do that to me again! You know better than to start fights!"

"I know, I'm sorry, mom," he said while hugging her back.

"There, there, Denise," his father said while patting her back, "The important thing is that Nick is safe."

"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Lucas?" the nurse said, "I'm just going to need you to sign some paperwork before I can release Nick to you."

His parents left the small room with the cot that he was in, leaving him and Miley there alone.

"I'm so so sorry, Nick" she said again, moving close to him, "If I had just gone to class, none of this would have happened. It's all my fault."

"Don't worry about it," he said quietly, "How bad does my face look?"

Miley giggled and he was happy that he was able to make her laugh when she looked so devastated.

"It's not so bad," she insisted, lightly brushing her fingertips over his bruised nose and eye, "It makes you look tough."

He laughed, "Thanks."

"Nick, today isn't the only thing I'm sorry about. About what happened at the game…"

"What happened at the game?" Nick said feeling confused. He tried to look back and remember it but it made his headache. Miley blew him a kiss. Their team won. But the rest of the details just weren't there.

"Wait, you don't remember the game?" Miley asked, looking surprised.

"We won, right?" Nick said, confused by the worried look that was taking over Miley's face, "What else happened?"

Miley's eyes shifted to the door where Nick's parents and the nurse were talking just a few feet away.

"Miley, what happened?" Nick repeated.

"Ah, Mr. Lucas!" Nick jumped as he heard the principal addressing him, "So glad to see you're awake now. See, Miss Stewart? Everything is fine. You can head back to class now."

"Wait!" Nick said as she got up to leave, "I don't want her to go yet."

"Miley has classes, Nick," the principal said sternly, "And it looks like your parents are signing you out so it's time for you to go home anyway."

Nick scrunched his face up and tried to remember the game. There was a blur of colors and sounds. A red rose. Selena laughing. The band playing a song. But he still couldn't remember what happened with Miley.

**Thanks for you continuous support on my stories, you guys are so amazing for staying with me for so long :)**


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